Heart Of Gold
by DeadMau37
Summary: what happens when a man who has failed to protect those close to him? well after finding his version of magic and one last promise to not fail again he puts his last action of his life into action. but what he doesnt expect is to wake up in a completely different world
1. Chapter 1

**I don't have military knowledge either so someone out theres probably going to be like BULLSHIT at me somewhere. All I have to say is this. GET THE FUCK OVER IT IT'S A STORY ABOUT PONYS NOT THE MILITARY. I just wanted to try and create a good story for our protagonist so go along with it. And no his world of origin isn't earth just some generic world where all this makes sense and nobody can call bullshit for unlikely stuff happening so on with the story! :P**

They say in the moment you die your whole life flashes through your eyes. That's almost what happens. Or atleast for me it was, it was more like a highlight real of memories.

So as I stood there Blinding light practically melting my eyes out I remembered every major moment of my life.

I was born in a small country

From a young age my father started me into a program called FitCross. It was a fitness program of an immensely intense level. Or as I called it, "show up and get the living shit kicked out of your body."

But I guess it payed off by the time I graduated high school I could barely keep the girls off me, don't get me wrong I like the attention but it sucks when people only want you for your abs.

At the age of 22 I entered the world crossfit games and took third place. And to top it off I won the next year. Basically setting me into stone as a celebrity, witch honestly bothered me. I always shied away from the attention, I put my all into it to prove to myself and no one else how far I could push myself. Also the 1st place prize money wasn't to be scoffed at I wouldn't need a job for the next 20 years if I was smart.

Everything up till then seemed to be going great for me. But you know that old saying what goes up must come down. And it came down alright, like a lead balloon with a cinder block attached to it.

And here is where the pattern starts. After fighting to prove and push myself for years no matter how hard I tried I couldn't protect anything in the end.

It started with my mother, she was an angel in almost every way, funny enough her name was even faith. You would be hard pressed to find a kinder and more caring and supporting woman.

Despite having money I always stayed humbled. So I often frequented less fortunate areas of cities and volunteered. Everything from soup kitchens to setting up a dinner in a park for the homeless. I always figured I was fortunate enough for more than one person. So I thaught I should share my own fortune with others.

We were spending the day together in the cities in a seedier run down part of town, several times she had volunteered to go with me on my personal mission of help. Well as we passed by an allyway an arm reached out and grabbed her and before she could even scream a huge fist covered her mouth and a gun barrel pressed to her head.

I can remember pleading with the man figuring it was just a robbery for money, well I was right for the most part and it probably would've been fine in the end, he holds her hostage I empty my wallet to him he lets her go I call the police. Well that would've been to simple now wouldn't it.

Apparently from what I would learn at a later date the man was severely drugged at the time and probably couldn't of told left from purple. So in a fit of what I can only guess was either a heroine meth or pcp (all three and more where found in his bloodstream on autopsy) induced muscle spasm he dropped to one knee screaming. Figuring I would take my chance I rushed the man, almost reached him too when it happened. I will never forget the sound of that pistol discharging. Or of my mother hitting the ground. The only thing I can remember is pure rage followed by time feeling like it slowed to a crawl, I even watched the bullet that ended my mom fly past my head. Humans cant see things like that can they? the police report stated that the man was found embedded 2 inches deep into a solid concrete wall. Without any signs of a fight. So without any proof against me I was never charged with anything.

But the loss of my mother devastated me, I had failed to protect the woman who loved me most and who I also held closest to me in this world.

Not six months later I was driving down a highway with my father. We had decided to head to a small country in the north for a fishing trip. My mothers death had not been easy on either of us my father was devastated and showed it. He stopped eating unless someone forced him. Lost himself in thaught and was pretty much just a ghost of a man. So I figured I would get him out and maybe try to loosen him up to the world. He needed something to take his mind off of the present and fishing had always been his closest hobby.

Well driving one day to a small town called homer a blizzard blew in on us. Several times it almost pushed us right off the road. But my father kept driving, he had always prided himself on being a great driver. And I have to admit, he didn't take pride in it for nothing he had proven time and time again his skill. Ill always remember him driving down a cliff backwords with 2 inches of room on either side in a huge pickup. But that is a story for another time.

But despite himself knowing his own abilities he always preached the line "Your biggest danger on the road is everybody else. You can be a perfect driver but all it takes is someone else to cause a problem."

And sure enough to enforce his own lesson A semi truck in the oncoming lane had lost control and slid sideways on a collision course with our truck. And in a moment of panic that felt almost eerily similer to the moment of rage at the time of my mothers death time slowed down to a crawl, the only thing I can remember from that incident is somehow getting the drivers doar open and my father out of the vehicle in about 3 seconds flat.

I was found an three hours later in the wreckage. The police said they had never seen anything like it. It was almost like a forcefield went up around me because the inside of the truck had miraculously left a sphere around me absent of wreckage. They said I should have been pancaked to oblivion.

But my father had broken his leg upon me pushing him out of the vehicle. Probobly would've servived too except the blizzard had kept the road cleer for almost two and a half hours. I had pushed my own father into a storm and caused him to freeze to death. The police called me a hero for my efforts. Yeah some hero, I failed to save both of my parents and practically witnessed them both die and I couldn't do a thing about it.

I practically went insane with the grief and somehow convinced myself to join the military. I believe my reasoning at the time was that I had failed to save either of my precious people. So I could atleast try and save someone elses. Long story short I became a repeat war hero, but it seems like at almost every corner I failed to protect somebody. Pretty soon I just stopped talking to anyone and requesting solo suicide missions. The weight of failure just too heavy on my shoulders, that brings me to today.

A couple good memories did pass by though. Especially with my commander, his nickname for me was I.F.T or insubordinate fucktard. I could barely follow any military protocals and had escaped being discharged under insubordination multiple times for the stupidest shit. Questioning your commanding officer, ignoring military protocals. Lack of military etiquete. And my personal favorite, Beating the shit out of my C.O when he started a fight with me, got off that one thanks to a technicality and who threw the first punch not being me. Hell I barely payed attention to anything they treid to tell me. Only reason I didn't drop in boot was nobody could touch me when it actually came to anything physical. They called me a freak of nature. But when they told me to do something it got done. So they put up with my shit. Hell if you met me on the road you would probably think I was a mentally ill janitor by this point in my life.

I couldn't take anything serious except my mission. Doctors attributed it to post tramatic stress syndrome. Hell they were probably right to an extent but I know it was my repeat failures to save anyone, in my 3 years of service I lost over 300 soldiers serving under me. And time and time again I was narrowly saved by some freak accident. Almost everytime though I can remember my stress or anger or whatever emotion boiling up to a point before time grinded to a halt but after that nothing.

Ill leave out country names because its pretty much irrelevant at this point but country A got pissed at Country B. me being a part of country B, so they send a FRIGGEN NUCLEAR SUBMARINE at country A. seriously how can man kind just expect to solve problems by launching weapons of mass genocide at one another?

So enter me. The best country B's military has, to infiltrate and stop the sub. I wasn't alone for this mission though, another man had joined the mission named Derick. He was a demolitions expert and the one actually in charge of dealing with the subs payload. And in my opinion entirely too friendly and likeable. Despite my best effort at this part to cut off emotion so it hurt less when I fail I found myself becoming friends with him. So why would a country only send two men to stop a submarine filled with Nuclear I.C.B.M's (intercontinantel ballistic missiles) witch a single one could level a massive area killing millions your probably asking yourself. I sure as fuck knew I thaught the same thing. But then again I barely paid attention to any military tactics. I was pretty much a braindead zombie from failure crushing my mind that just did what it was told. I guess it was some mumbo jumbo about the element of surprise and how a larger force would risk premature launches from the sub. Hey it made sense when they explained it.

Our mission started off surprisingly well. The men on the submarine where pathetic and we swept the decks in a storm. We had successfully deactivated every missile aboard the ship except one. By the time we had arrived though it had already been activated and was set to explode in five minutes. As I patrolled the room looking for whoever had activated the warhead Derick was at work trying to get the missile offline. Halfway through him bringing the missile down, the enemy sprung there trap. Before I knew it we were surrounded. Telling us how we failed and would watch as our nation burned from the missile. Derick being eerily similer to me in his insubordinate ways spat on who im assuming was the captain or head of the sub who was talking to us. The next thing I know derick had a 9mm hole through the center of his eyes. Time crawled as I watched him fall, I didn't know what to do. That was until I could hear the sounds of an rocket engine and a taunt from the captain. The words "you've failed" ringing in my ears.

At that moment, everything stopped and for the first time in my life I felt like I had control over these phenomana that seemed to revolve around me. I cant even begin to describe it only that it felt like well.. magic. Grasping this power surging through me it exploded in a shockwave around me throwing everybody in the room away. Laughing to myself at what just happened I knew what I had to do from that point. ironic really I fully grasp this power now, that could have saved everybody instead of me just repeatedly failing. And now im going to sacrifice it. Because I refused to fail even one more time.

Reaching out with the power I grabbed ahold of the missile before it could launch. I knew i couldn't turn it off it was pretty much a fact. This thing is going to explode, so knowing we were in the ocean just outside my country I hoped I could atleast minimize the damage. Holding the missile from moving I prepared myself for what I knew I had to do. Throwing the missile sideways it impacted at a terrifying speed, seriously how could I just throw something that huge that fast even with this power? Upon smashing into the wall of the sub I could see the bright flash, and the intense heat. I could feel like I was being melted by the light in slow motion. But I had a job to do. Even at this range the radiation from the missile could kill thousands, and I refused to let even a single innocent person die from any of my failure.

Grasping every ounce of this what feels like magic power I used it to force the explosion towards myself. As if I was trying to absorb it, I guess I just felt like pulling everything towerds myself so nothing could get away. Who knows, it was probably a dumb idea but I couldn't think of anything else.

But lord knows it felt like it was working, I could literally feel my blood boiling away, my skin seemed to melt off, the pain was unbearable but I for the life of me could not understand why I hadn't died already. It seemed to stay that way for years or seconds who knows how long but after a while everything just went black. I guess I should've expected that trying to absorb a nuclear explosion with some strange magic. HAHAHA that's a good one wow even I wouldn't believe it if I told myself that but I guess this is the end. Its nice to go knowing I may have finally saved someone.

Now to just rest…

*BEEP**BEEP**BEEP**BEEP**BEEP**BEEP*

'Why am I hearing beeping? Shouldn't I be dead? Huh maybe this is just a cruel joke and hell is just a black place with a slow beep to drive you insane, ehh I dunno I don't think hell needs to do that. I did a pretty good job barely holding my sanity together before. And besides im pretty sure hell wouldn't smell like… I know that smell but how can someone in the same room as an explosion like that and end up in a hospital? I should be literally nothing but dust and memories by now.'

'Well my answers aren't going to just make themselves known unless I try to figure it out. But my eyes are covered, what is that bandages? Great well ill just have to pull them away from my eyes.' 'Ahhh my arm it feels like its on fire from just trying to move it. FUCK I just want to know where I am and I cant even wiggle my fingers without feeling like that bomb is going off again.'

*BEEP**BEEP**BEEP**BEEP**BEEP**BEEP*

'AND WHY IS THAT BEEPING STILL THERE'

It was at this point that panic started to set in, the inability to open his eyes mixed with not being able to move was starting to terrify him. Even from a young age he could always remember being claustrophobic, and this was deffinately not a fun situation.

'SERIOUSLY FUCK THESE BANDAGES' was the thaught that screamed through his head before he could here the sound of cloth being shredded. The next thing he knew an ungodly amount of light was flooding through his closed eyelids. Causing even more panic.

*BEEP**BEEP**BEEP**BEEP**BEEP**BEEP**BEEP**BEEP**B EEP**BEEP**BEEP**BEEP*

"Doctor!" a voice screamed out as he could here someone rushing to him, before he felt himself being restrained.

'heh restrain me all you want its not like im going anywhere I cant even move. But why isn't it hurting? Trying to move was agonizing.'

"Nurse whats happening?" another voice called out, must be the doctor. followed by swiftly moving footsteps…errr is that hooves?

"I don't know he was unconscious one second then the next thing I know his heart rate spikes through the roof and all the bandages over his eyes were ripped to shreds." Was the reply from the first person he herd. Must be the nurse the doctor mentioned.

By know the lights didn't burn his eyes through the lids. And even looked pretty mellow on the other side, so throwing caution to the wind he slowly started opening his eyes. Taking in what he could he saw the ceiling, looked like a hospital ceiling. A heart monitor and other machines, yup hospital machines. Before looking over to where he herd the nurse and doctor. But before he could even process what he saw his mind froze and everything went black again.

**Well theres chapter one. I think it turned out decent. But I have never written anything mlp before. And to be more precise ive barely written any fic before, so any and all feedback appreciated. From praise to flames I drink it all like writing super juice. **


	2. Dr's and Nurses and Princesses oh my

**I know this chapter may seem to drone on with just talk but I'm still breaking into the story just give it some time. Plus I'm just trying set myself up with a decent backstory so I can write something half decent for you all to enjoy. **

Did I just see what I thaught I saw? No that's impossible. I'm going to wake up and be dead, like anybody else who has ever absorbed a nuclear blast. Because that's reality and that's what happens. You don't die then wake up in a hospital to see… no I don't even want to think about it. I'm not insane and dead just dead.

So why does it still smell like a hospital? Does death just smell like sanitizer, and medicine?

*BEEP**BEEP**BEEP**BEEP**BEEP**BEEP**BEEP**BEEP*

AND WHY DO I STILL HERE THAT FUCKING BEEP! I ALREADY DECLARED IM NOT IN A HOSPITAL AND THAT IM JUST DEAD. AND THAT I DID NOT SEE A NURSE THAT LOOKED LIKE A HORSE!

*BEEP**BEEP**BEEP**BEEP**BEEP**BEEP**BEEP**BEEP*

Fine beep. You win do what you want. But know that whatever is causing you dead or not I'm going to destroy whatever is making you.

Well time to get this over with, I at least need to open my eyes and see what the afterlife looks like. And so I can find this beep and wipe it to oblivion.

"Doctor I think he is waking up again, but he looks calmer this time".

Opening his eyes the man just stared at the ceiling for a few seconds letting his eyes adjust to the light. Before turning his head and staring right at his nurse. Without making a sound he just stared at her for a few seconds before staring back at the ceiling calmly.

Speaking calmly and in an even tone "Why is there a horse in a nurse outfit in this hospital? And am I dead or is this just a cruel joke."

The nurse's jaw just dropped before he heard a loud "HUMPH WHY I NEVER" and the sound of hooves stomping away.

"Uhh was it something I said?" the man spoke confused. Before hearing another set of hooves coming from his other side.

"You're not from around here are ya boy"

Looking over the man saw what another grey horse, or was it a pony? He was much too small to be considered a full size horse. He looked around 4 maybe 4 ½ feet tall. And to top it all off there was a small horn on top of his head making him look like a unicorn.

'haha that's a good one, even I know there is no such thing as a unicorn, but seeing how my mouth got me in trouble once already apparently I think I'm just going to ignore this for now. I'm sure it'll all be explained in time.'

Speaking out to answer "Gee what makes you think that? Could it be that I'm human and just woke up in a hospital filled with small horses?" the man replied briskly with a hint of sarcasm to it.

At that remark the doctor's face got a little red with anger before he calmed down and spoke again.

"I'm going to let that comment slide since I'm sure you don't know any better, we are ponies in this land. And I would advise you never to call any of us a horse again. I believe you just made my nurse go cry somewhere from that insult."

Realizing what the doctor just said the man instantly felt terrible before smacking his hand to his face before groaning.

'Huh it didn't hurt much to move that time. I guess whatever was causing pain before has passed'

"I apologize doctor I'm just a little overwhelmed, I didn't mean to offend anybody. I honestly don't even know where I am, and as for what I said where I'm from a horse is just a type of animal like you. I did not know in this uhh wherever I am that it was an insult. Especially since I can clearly see that you are not a simple animal but an intelligent being."

'Never let it be said that I don't take others feeling into account. Pony or not hate insulting people, I'm going to have to find that nurse pony later and apologize.'

Chuckling to himself the doctor spoke again. "It's alright boy, I figured you didn't mean any harm by what you said. Although my nurse was still upset by it, I would recommend you apologize to her later.

"Yeah I planned on it, I hate hurting people's feelings. Especially by stupid comments like that, I don't even know what it means."

Leaning over the Dr. whispered something into the man's ear before his eyes shot wide open in realization.

"Oh… I could see how that would hurt her feelings, I'm so sorry."

"It's alright I'm sure she will forgive you when she learns of your predicament. Anyways we should go back to the matter at hand, who you are where you came from and how on earth you got so injured when they dragged your nearly lifeless body into my hospital. Speaking of witch what happened to you boy? I've never seen Injuries so severe like yours."

"I would rather not talk about it if you don't mind "he replied in a sad tone before mumbling again more to just himself. "My nearly lifeless… uhh doctor how long have I been in this hospital?"

'It must be a painful memory, ill drop it for now'. "Just over two weeks. You woke up 5 days ago for a brief moment before passing out again. It's honestly nearly miraculous that you even are doing so well now. I thaught you were going to be down for at least a month."

"What was wrong with me? I remember waking up and feeling incredible pain before passing out again."

"From what I was told you were found just outside of town, severely covered from head to toe in third degree burns and nearly bled to death. You had bone fractures in both arms and legs, six cracked ribs and a punctured lung. It is nothing short of a miracle you are even alive. And before we continue this conversation I was curious if you had a name? We have been listing you as patient 37 for the last two weeks and I hardly think that's a suitable title.

The man just sat there for a minute taking in everything the doctor had just asked him, it's not every day that you arrive in a mystery land beaten to six levels of hell and nearly dead. But then his question registered.

"You can call me Derick, I'm sorry I didn't catch your name either."

"I am Dr. Whooves. It's a pleasure to meet you Derick, now back to the medical side of things." Your body has been healing very well on its own. And that was before the magical treatments can be factored in. your body."

"Wait magical treatments? As in Magic? There is no such thing as magic."

Chuckling again the Dr. Whooves answered. "You are definitely not from around here. Before I answer that where are you from?"

"A small country north of Keld called Atura, but seeing as there is no such thing as talking ponies I'm going to assume they aren't a part of this planet are they."

"Never herd of either of those places so I'm going to have to say no. We are in Equestria right now, and as I said earlier magic is very real here." As if to prove a point the Doctors horn suddenly started glowing silver before a small clipboard appeared in front of him.

"Ooook I've seen strange things in my life but that takes the cake."

"I do find it odd though that you say that I was expecting you to have some knowledge of magic from the tests we ran earlier."

"Tests? What tests and why does magic have anything to do with them" 

Looking puzzled the doctor started looking over the clipboard double checking some information.

"Well to start off when we first used magical treatment on you to re-set your broken bones your body seemed to absorb the magic like a sponge. It was almost like you were drinking it up and couldn't get enough. That made me mighty curious so I decided to do some further tests. And from what I found out your body is in part accustomed to actually using magic on its own, although at a severely less proficient rate than us unicorns. But I did expect you to have some basic knowledge of magic seeing as you have used it before."

Derick just sat there hardly believing what he was hearing "But I've never used magic before, where I'm from any magic is just smoke and mirrors, tricks on the eyes." Thinking for a second though the man thaught back on all the strange events that had happened in his life. "But it would make sense, for the past couple years strange things I never remember have happened repeatedly saving my life, I thaught it was a curse though because almost every time it happened someone close to me wasn't as lucky."

The doctor could hear the sad tone creep into his voice realizing there must be a lot of sadness and heartbreak in the memories that Derick was remembering.

Thinking to try and break him out of his sudden funk the doctor spoke again. "Well on the other hand I do have some good news for you. At the rate you have healed you are almost back to new, by tomorrow we should be able to release you from the hospital."

Thinking this would cheer the man up he was puzzled by the man's face when it just grew more depressed.

Mumbling in a low tone almost as if only to himself "And go where"

Then it hit the Doctor. This man was in a new world, new nothing about it. Didn't know a single person had no friends and no family here. And not even a place to call home, apart from the hospital gown he was wearing he didn't even appear to have any clothing. Then an idea struck the Doctor, there was no way that _She _would ever let one of her subjects pony or not just appear in the land and go homeless without even clothes on their back.

"Hmm if you excuse me I'm going to let you rest for a while. It looks like you've had a very eventful awakening and I don't want to overload you."

And with that the doctor turned and started to walk off.

"Oh Dr? One more thing before you go."

Looking back the grey pony smiled "Yes?"

"Uhh if you see that nurse could you ask her to come by my bed? I would like to apologize to her."

"I will pass along the message." And he continued to walk off.

Laying back down Derick began to think about his morning so far, there was so much to take in.

But not ten minutes after the doctor had left he heard the sound of approaching hooves.

"Uhm the doctor said you requested me. Is there something you need?"

It was the nurse pony, looking at her she was a white color with a light pink mane and did not have a horn like the Dr did. She was avoiding looking at him directly and from her tone he knew that she was still upset from his comment earlier.

"I uhh, just wanted to apologize for earlier. I didn't realize what I said, I'm not from here and where I'm from that term is a harmless name for a type of animal that resembles you."

"Humph" she replied. "So you think of us as animals? She said in a mix of hurt and anger.

"Nonono nothing like that I'm sorry that was worded poorly. From what I can figure out I'm from another world. There we have creatures that resemble you called horses but they are animals. You on the other hand are not even close, unlike our creatures couldn't think or speak. You are an intelligent creature that I have accidentally insulted. And I would like to apologize and start over, my name is Derick."

Hearing the words the nurse let some of the hurt and anger leave her features before finally looking at him. "I'm Nurse Redheart, and I understand what you're saying. I'm sorry for getting upset earlier I should've known seeing how I've never seen a… whatever you are haha sorry but uh just what are you anyways?"

"I'm a human, so this land uhh Equestria I think I called it has never seen any humans before?"

"Not that I know of you're the first one."

"Huh well I'll be. *YAWN* oops hehe sorry looks like I'm a little tired. From what I herd of my injuries I guess that'll have that effect on you."

"Yeah I've never seen somebody so hurt. Whatever happened to you must've been terrible. Anyways I'll let you have some rest, it was nice meeting you Derick."

"And nice to meet you to Mrs. Redheart."

As she left he lay back thinking about everything again. Ponies, magic, equestrian. It was all so much to take in. and he couldn't help but think back to his own world and what he was sure should've been the last moments of his life. 'Heh for all I know they were and I'm in a dream' oh well not like it matters now if it is Ill just wake up dead. No use worrying about what's past.

And with that he slowly drifted off to sleep.

A few hours later Derick woke up to here voices outside of the room he was in. he could tell the first voice was the Doctor. The second voice he had never herd though, but it sounded well it was hard for him to describe. It was definitely a females voice that was a given, it sounded soft and kind but had a regal sound to it. All in all it was a beautiful sounding voice to him. He decided to listen in on the conversation.

"So this is the room he is currently in correct?"

"That is correct. He has been with us for two weeks and finally woke up earlier, although I did not expect you to pay a visit personally it is quite an honor my lady."

"Oh that is quite alright, I love and care for all my subjects. And your letter made me want to meet him in person, it is quite a tragedy to end up in a predicament like his. The part about not even having any clothes or a home pulled at my heart. And if it is within my power none of my subjects will be exposed to any harshness like that."

'OH. MY. GOD. She really is royalty then, why else would she say my subjects? Why is royalty here talking about me? And what letter? Oh I get it that doctor must've herd me say that part and wrote a letter. But why to royalty? And on another note what kind of friggen royalty has the time and is willing to just visit a stranger in a hospital? Well guess there is one way to find out.

He started shifting in his bed making a small amount of noise, making the conversation outside of his room stop. 'Huh don't want them to think I was eavesdropping that's just rude. Butter play it smooth.'

Reaching over he took a glass of water that was next to his bed took a sip and set it down slightly harder than normal. Hoping it would seem like he was just taking a drink and laying back down in bed.

A few moments later he heard a knock at the door before the Dr walked in.

"Hello Derick I hope I didn't wake you."

"No it's alright I woke a minute ago to get a drink."

"Excellent, I know this may come as a surprise but you have a visitor. That is if you are willing to let them see you."

'Heh as if I can say no knowing there is a royal woman outside my room. My curiosity alone won't let me.'

"A visitor? But who would visit me? I don't know anyone here other than you and the nurse. Even from where I'm from I don't have any family or friends that would visit me in a hospital."

Outside the room the Alicorn listening in on the conversations heart seemed to bleed and pain her for a second upon hearing the man's words.

"Well I guess you will just have to find out then? Wont you. Unless you're too tired for a visit."

'Hook line and sinker. Can't play a few heartstrings while I'm at it. Never hurts to have others on your side and get a little sympathy. Just as long as you don't abuse it and am always genuine and nice back.'

"I will go let he know you would like to see her." Said before walking out the room. A few moments later another MUCH larger pony walked in, before he even looked at her he noticed a small glow filling his room radiating from the pony.

Looking at who just entered his room his jaw nearly broke off how hard it wanted to drop.

Before him stood the most regal and beautiful creature he had ever seen in his life. She towered over the other two ponies he had seen.

Derick was not a small man. Standing roughly 6'6" and extremely toned muscles but he felt so small next and insignificant next to her.

She was easily 7 feet tall probably closer to 7 ½ ft. She was pure white and had a picture of a sun on her lower body where a horse's flank would be. He didn't know what to call their anatomy and wasn't risking anything for fear of insulting anyone.

Atop her head was a beautiful horn but that's not what caught his eye. Her mane unlike the hair of the ponies he had seen. Seemed to be ethereal and waving on its own magically it was striped in colors off blues/ a light green and a light purple. Her tail seemed to be doing the same thing as well.

She wore what looked like golden shoes and a golden chest piece with a purple gemstone in the center.

And to top off her Overwhelming appearance two huge magnificent wings sat tucked on her back.

'WOW' was all he could think.

"Hello" she spoke in a soft and loving tone laced with power and regalness but with no hidden ill will he could find. It was like she spoke with pure unbiased love to all. 'If that's actually true she is royalty that in my opinion deserves to actually rule. Far too many monarchs in my world's history have been far less kind to their subjects.' "I believe I was told your name was Derick is that correct?"

"Yes your majesty" he sat up trying to bow. He knew it always payed to be respectful to royalty. Although where he was from used a democracy system royalty was abundant in his world's history.

She giggled at his effort for a second 'wow even her giggle seems regal, it's not really a giggle or a chuckle I have no idea how to describe it, it's simply too graceful'

"Please relax, I am the guest in your hospital room. There is no need for formalities here."

Her words passing through his mind just reinforced every thaught of her. 'This is a truly worthy princess or queen who loves her subjects. And is humble too, all the monarchs in my history seemed to believe they were above everybody else and demanded respect.

"It is a great honor to meet you, I don't believe I caught your name." he spoke casually but with great respect in his voice.

"Oh my forgive me. I am princess Celestia, the kind Doctor here sent me a letter of your situation and I wanted to pay a visit personally. It's not every day a human ends up in Equestria."

"Yeah haha, it's a little overwhelming, but from what I've seen it's a very kind place. Especially if a princess like yourself pays us unimportant folk a visit haha." He chuckled out nervously 'I have no idea what to say to royalty. Am I being too informal? She seems very kind and friendly but I don't want to cross any lines.'

"That is not true, every creature in my lands are equally important to me. I love and cherish all of my subjects equally. I'll admit I do not get to spend as much time among them as I would enjoy. But I will always be there for anypony who needs it. And from the Dr's letter it's apparent that you have quite a situation on your hands."

"I'm just lucky to be alive Ma'am I'll be just fine now. There's no need to worry about lil old me, I can take care of myself."

"I'm sure you could, you seem very capable and strong, especially at the rate you are absorbing magic from the area, I have to admit that when I read about that from the Doctors letter that was something that intrigued me and made me want to visit you all the more."

'What is she talking about? I'm not absorbing magic, I still don't even understand this whole magic thing.'

"Uhh beg pardon your majesty but I'm not completely aware of what you mean by that I am absorbing magic. I don't feel anything at all and I don't even fully understand the magic of this world. From where I'm from there is no such thing as magic."

From his words the princess's face seemed to be held in thaught and was that a little bit of amazement and awe? Nah why would someone like him have any reason to impress a princess.

"That is most intriguing. You claim to have no knowledge or control of magic by the sound of your words. Yet from the tests I looked over before visiting you have been using magic for several years, albeit unknowingly at the time apparently. And I can tell you that just from myself being in the room that you are absorbing magic at an alarming rate."

'This just seemed to confuse Derick further.' "Uhh princess I don't know very much about what you are talking about when it comes to magic could you perhaps explain it a bit? I apologize for my ignorance and boldness asking but I like to understand things around me."

Smiling at his question the princess answered. "Of course, I would be happy to answer, it's funny for a moment there you sounded a little bit like my student with you want of knowledge. But never mind that for now, as for the magic it appears from our tests that you have used magic in several situations over the past few years. And if you are claiming that there was no such thing as magic from your world I'm assuming that it is in a place with little to no raw magic. But you on the other hand have a very large and powerful natural magical gift. And to further strengthen that claim I am what is known as an Alicorn. As I'm sure you have noticed I poses both the horn of a unicorn and wings of a Pegasus.

There are currently only three Alicorn in our world. Alicorn are considered royalty simply because of the power that we contain. I myself am in charge of raising and lowering the sun everyday with my magic."

At that statement Derick's jaw hit the floor. "Yo-you c-can move the s-sun? With just your magic!?"

Smiling at his outburst she answered "yes and it is almost as easy and natural as breathing for me. Now as a creature with such powerful and huge amounts of magic I naturally radiate an immense amount of natural raw magic. But ever since entering this room you have been naturally absorbing every bit of it."

Hearing her words he suddenly got slightly worried, 'shit I don't need to sound like I'm stealing a princess, with the power of a gods magic.'

"Oh my gosh I am so sorry princess I did not mean to please forgive me."

The princess looked at him slightly confused. "Whatever for? I have seen no need to ask for forgiveness."

"I am practically stealing magic from you and don't even know it. That has to be some sort of problem."

"Ahh I can see why you would be worried about that now. Fear not I am not in the least angered by how you put it _stealing my magic_. In fact I find it rather interesting. While it is only a small fraction of what I contain it is a rather large amount compared to a normal unicorn. The amount of magic a being can contain is set at a limit. And from the amount you have absorbed in just this conversation would cause a lesser unicorn with low capacity to explode in magic overload."

Worry shot across derricks face. "You mean if I absorb too much I could explode?"

Letting out another one of her graceful laughs the princess answered. "No my dear, when a creature contains the amount of magic it can contain it stops absorbing, every magical creature naturally absorbs magic over time to replenish what they use. And I'm guessing that is why you were able to rarely use magic where you're from. Even without hardly any natural magic there you have an immense magical affinity. You would naturally build a natural charge over time if there was even a microscopic amount of magic on your home world."

"Huh makes sense, that's kind of a relief at least I won't explode."

But now a slightly grim look appeared across the princess's face giving Derick some worry. "But there is more to this whole situation. Believe it or not I have met humans before, and they cannot naturally contain large amounts of magic. The few I have met upon absorbing a decent quantity started to change into a magical being. From what I have learned and speculate from those experiences. It seemed like they were born with a natural connection to a type of magical creature that there soul had a strong connection to. I have seen this happen three times before.

This is also one of the more important reasons I chose to visit you this evening. I do not want to alarm you but I expect within the next two to three months you will change into a magical creature."

Derick could not believe what he was hearing. "You mean ill change into a unicorn or some such creature?"

Nodding back to him the princess spoke again. "That is correct to an extent. Every time a human with a magical affinity came into contact with large quantities of magic change. It happens when they absorb an amount that there body cannot contain. All of the humans absorbed magic at a surprisingly quick rate but all changed into different creatures. Of different magical levels. I'm trying to think of a good way to describe this to scale with how much magic different creatures contain. Because all three humans changed differently, one became a phoenix, one became a unicorn, and one simply became a dragon."

"Wow a dragon, that's amazing but no offense I hope I don't become one, Sounds like a lot of trouble. And if you don't mind princess where I'm from there is a simple method to scale things like that. They use a 1 to 10 scale 1 being the least and 10 being the most. So you could tell me what the most powerful would be at a 10 and the rest from there. Oh and princess, thank you very much for explaining all this to me. I love learning and this is extremely fascinating despite the news I'm probably going to become some random creature."

Smiling at his answer she replied "That is an excellent method if I do say so myself, we have used it here as well I just did not think of it. Ok if 10 were the most magical creatures in the universe that would be an Alicorn like myself. Phoenix's while being almost entirely magical creatures especially with their rebirth cycle do not contain huge amounts of magic and would probably be somewhere around a 5. Dragons have natural magic like when they breathe fire but depend more on their size and strength to live life and would be roughly a 3. Unicorns are harder to classify they can range anywhere from a 1 if you are a low level unicorn to around a 9 for the extremely magically gifted. The human I met was somewhere around a 2 unfortunately."

"Huh bummer looks like humans just can't hold a lot of magic. Especially if you said they all absorbed it quickly for two to three months but all became lesser magical creatures."

Hearing his reply the princess grinned slightly. "It is very surprising to continue to hear such wisdom in your answers. Brand new to the world of magic and your logic on the situation is excellent. But there is something different here. While I said they gathered it quickly that is an overstatement in this situation. They gathered it quickly to normal standards, and from my research the reason it took so long is the transformation requires an immense amount of raw magic to transform someone into even a lesser magical creature.

Let's say they absorbed magic roughly 2 to ten times faster than a mid-level unicorn. Witch would indeed be rated as quickly. You are gather magic roughly twenty times faster than the quickest of those three."

Derick simply sat there for a moment absorbing it all. "Wait you mean I am gathering magic 200 times faster than a unicorn?" he nearly screamed at the sheer amazement of the statement."

"That is correct young one, I am honestly truly curious to see what happens to you if you do transform. But that is an if. I can here today with all this knowledge already but with two options to give you. The first would be to naturally let you gather magic and live in Equestria, you would transform into a random creature who may not even be able to communicate with the rest of civilization. And that is a risk only you can choose for yourself. The other option is I could cut off your magic and send you back to the world you came from. The choice is yours young one."

Her words echoed his mind, his choice? He could go home. He might even be considered a hero after the incident that sent him here. But there would be questions, lots and lots of questions. And besides there wasn't a single person for him to go back to they all ended up dead. Staying here was a risk, but it could possibly be a shot at a new life.

"Well I think I have a decision on that question already. I have nothing but trouble waiting to go back home, considering I should be dead, and I have nobody left to go back to. I know it's a risk but I possibly have a new life waiting for me here. And I'm hoping to become something that can fit in here like a unicorn. It would be pretty awesome to use magic if I do say so myself hahaha."

"Very well then. Since you have made your decision it is time to get you set up for a new life. Until you transform and we know what kind of creature you are and what to do with you I have arranged for you to stay in this town with my personal student. And to be cared for by her and her friends, she has already agreed since I met her before coming here. And is excited to meet you since she has a thirst for knowledge and never met a human before."

"well it's a relief to know I have somewhere to stay at least but uhh, Its kind of embarrassing to ask but I would rather not go meet them naked or in a hospital gown if you know what I mean."

Chuckling to herself the princess nodded in agreement. "Yes you are quite right, do you have the energy to stand?"

"Oh yeah I'm just used to being in hospitals and staying down. Nurses tend to get huffy when you move to much hahaha." Hopping down from the bed he had been sitting in he stood before the princess slightly embarrassed by his attire."

Seeing the blush in his cheeks the princess giggled to herself before stepping forward.

"Perhaps it is time for you to witness a small amount of magic I am about to cast a spell that will create clothes from your mind just envision an outfit and I will create it."

"Wow you can do that? Well ill just stick to something comfortable and widely usable for now. Don't know how long I'll be stuck with it."

The princess just laughed to herself 'oh if only he knew what he is going to get into meeting rarity.'

"Alright here we go picture it exactly like you want it." As she spoke a bright light engulfed Derick.

When it faded the princess was breathing heavily almost dropping to the ground.

"Oh my god princess are you ok? He said rushing forward to help her if she needed it."

Getting a breather she stood back up. "I am fine, but that was interesting. It took me roughly 1000 times more magic to perform that spell than normal. Your body kept absorbing it faster than I could cast it, I will be ok in a few hours of rest. And do not even think of apologizing it was not your fault just a simple miscalculation, but if you would be so kind please let any pony you meet not to use magic directly on you unless they want to be extremely tired afterwords. Around you should be fine since it is not raw magic and not focused on you."

Nodding at her words he looked down at his new attire. It was pretty simple. Comfortable pair of jeans and a fitted black t-shirt with the words 'DO REAL WORK' on the back. "Hahaha" he chuckled to himself turning his head back around from stretching to see the back. "Had to keep a little piece of home with me."

Speaking up Celestia turned around as if to exit the room "you appear to be in great condition unless you want to stay another night in the hospital let me guide you to where you'll be staying." She quickly looked away from him before leaving the room.

Derick stood there for a moment wondering what he just saw. 'Where her cheeks? Did she just blush?' looking down at his appearance once again he realized why. From years of hard work and training, and in the military he had a body to be proud of. And he always wore slightly tighter shirts. 'HAHAHAHA I STILL GOT IT AND FROM A PRINCESS NO LESS!' he laughed and shouted in his mind before running to catch up to the disappearing princess. 

**Well there is chapter two. No clue if its terribad or mega awesome or a mix of both. How about leaving a comment or review to let me know?**

**Oh and for those wondering I am a crossfit junkie in real life so it will be popping up in lil spots and Easter egg type appearances. Hence the do real work shirt**


	3. Welcome to ponyville

Catching up to Celestia as she left the hospital Derick finally got a few of the world he was going to be calling home. Looking around it seemed almost like it was out of a cartoon. Vibrant colors everywhere small clouds that seemed almost intentionally placed. A cheery atmosphere as he noticed ponies of all colors littering the streets enjoying the day.

All in all it looked like a happy little town, and to someone like Derick that was perfectly fine. He had already seen too much war death anger and hatred in his old life, all of which seemed to be nowhere in sight in what he was already starting to think of as his new home.

"So you said that I would be staying with you student here in town is that correct?"

"Yes that is correct, her name is Twilight Sparkle, and she is my gifted protégé. She lives here in ponyville at the local library, if you would like we could head there now and let you two meet. She should be waiting there for our arrival since I visited here earlier today and told arranged for you to stay there."

"Oh, Ok that sounds uh nice."

"Does something not please you with this arrangement? You sound worried."

"OH sorry it's not that I'm worried or anything, I sure she is a great person, uh pony. But I don't want to feel like I'm imposing, after all who would say no to a princess if they asked to let someone stay with them."

Once again the natural kindness that radiated from the princess showed from her face as she turned to look at Derick. "Ahh I understand, you think that you will be imposing upon twilight as a Burdon since you will be living with her before meeting her. That is perfectly understandable, but to be perfectly honest she herself volunteered to let you stay here as long as I deemed you a good and kind person. And just from spending the last hour conversing with you I believe she will enjoy your company. She came to ponyville around a year ago to learn about making friends and has taken many lessons on the subject to heart. And I believe that you will become another member of her close friends. Are you still worried about the arrangements?"

"Not nearly as much now, thank you for everything you have done today, never in my life have I met such kind people. I arrive in a strange world and already feel more comfortable here than home, and I've been shown more kindness by you alone than I have in years back home. And after everything you have told me I can't wait to meet this Mrs. Sparkle."

"Well you opportunity is sooner than you think, the library is just around the corner."

'Alright goes nothing, time to meet my new uhh I guess roommate would be the word for it. Although I'm still a guest in her home, well I'll just have to make the best of it no matter what happens.'

Reaching the door the princess knocked, several moment later the door opened revealing a small purple and green dragon.

'Hmm well the princess told me there were dragons here. Although this isn't what I expected, he must be very young to be so small. Might as well introduce myself and try to fit in at least. I doubt anything is really going to surprise me from now on though. Pretty hard to get surprised after surviving a nuke, landing in a pony world. Meeting a Princess Alicorn and seeing a dragon. Within 24 hours of being conscious to boot.'

Kneeling down to get closer to the small dragon Derick held out a hand. "Hello my names Derick it's a pleasure to meet you, I've never met a dragon before."

The small dragon just stood there for a second looking at his hand before shrugging his shoulders as if to say 'why not' and grabbed his hand. "The names spike, I'm guessing you're the guest that Twilight has been talking about?"

Nodding his head to answer Derick stood back up "Yes I am is she around?"

Spike simply nodded as he stared at Derick "Dang you're huge! You're almost as tall as the princess! You seem alright but I have no idea where you're going to sleep, your way too tall for any of the furniture here. Oh sorry lemme go get Twilight for you." He rambled before turning to run up the stairs.

Looking at Celestia Derick gave her a look that just said 'uhh what just happened'

Giving another regal chuckle the princes spoke "Oh don't mind spike, he lives here with Twilight as her assistant, they are very close since it was Twilights magic that hatched him, he is very smart for his age but he is still very young so pardon his antics."

Nodding to himself he followed Celestia into the library to wait for Twilight.

After a minute he heard the sound of hooves coming down the staircase, a second later a lite purple unicorn with a dark blue mane that had a pink and purple stripe running through it. Reaching the bottom of the stairs she looked up at Derick for a moment then to the Princess.

"Welcome back princess, I'm assuming this is who will be staying here for a while?"

She spoke calmly and with calculated precise wording Derick noted. But underneath it he could hear what he could've sworn was an excitement, why would she be excited to have a complete stranger come live with her?

"Yes Twilight, this is Derick he arrived in ponyville a few weeks ago injured by unknown circumstances. From what I can tell he is a very kind individual and I believe you will get along fine. I'm sorry though I have been away from the castle for far too long already, I just had enough time to escort him here, I would love to stay and introduce you two further but I must be leaving."

Twilight simply nodded to her "I understand princess, you are very busy after all. Thank you for visiting."

Nodding back Celestia and twilight left the building to say farewell, leaving Derick alone in the house.

'Well this is awkward, I have no idea what to say. I've only ever talked to three ponies and now I'm in one's home as a long term guest and I haven't even introduced myself personally. Atleast she seems very friendly I'm sure things will go smoothly.'

Hi thaught were interrupted though as Twilight reentered the building. She had what looked like a genuine friendly smile that helped Derick relax slightly. 'Yes at least she seems very friendly that's a good thing.'

"So your name was Derick correct? My name is Twilight Sparkle, it's a pleasure to meet you, and I have to admit I'm kind of excited to have you around. I've never met a human before, I just know I can learn so much from you. Like what other humans are like and about where you're from, there's just so many questions I have." Looking at Derick she noticed the strange look on his face like 'uhh what?'

"Oh I'm sorry I didn't mean to ramble on like that it was rude of me, I just get excited with the possibility of learning new things."

Derick just chuckled to himself, she reminded him of himself when he was younger, back when he was a child he split almost all of his time to either studying or working out. It fit with his ideals of improving himself however he could. 'Heh a lot of good that did me, I still couldn't save so many people despite all that work.'

"It's all good, I understand your curiosity, I tend to like to look into and learn all about new things as well, besides if I'm going to be living here for a while I'm sure you will have all the time you want to question me."

"Yea your right, I'm sorry I just got so excited, I doubt you want to just answer my questions all day. I mean you just arrived here, I know how about we go out and I show you around? I'm sure my friends would love to meet you as well."

Standing up Derick stretched out getting ready to head out hearing her suggestion. "You know that doesn't sound like a bad idea Mrs. Sparkle. I would love to see the town and meet some of the other ponies."

He did however notice Twilight keeping both eyes on him as he stretched though, and he could notice red creeping in to mix with the purple of her face as his shirt pulled tighter. 'Hehe man these ponies are suckers for a six pack. I may have a fan club at this rate, but then again I had one back on earth a few years ago. It gets pretty irritating after a while.'

Twilight finally seemed to get the blush under control before speaking "Please just call me Twilight, all my friends do, so you ready to head out? We should stop and see my friends, Pinkie will be Pinkie the moment she sees you I'm sure, you'll see what I mean later. And Rarity will probably be taking measurements of you seconds after entering the door. But I'm sure you will like them all."

'I'm pretty certain part of what she just said was meant as something else but sounded kind of awkward.'

"Uhh Twilight, when you say your friend would take my measurements is there something I should be prepared for?" he asked in a slightly innocent tone.

Missing his meaning at first "Oh nothing she will probably just"… but then she thaught about it for a second before turning beat red. "OHMYGOD that is not what I meant and you know it. But just for that remark I'm going to leave you wondering." Turning her head away with a slight Humph in a pouty tone.

'Oh I am going to have fun here teasing these innocent little ponies' Derick chuckled to himself before following twilight out of the library.

After following for a few minutes through town and just chatting with his new roommate Derick her a load gasp behind him, turning he saw a pink pony with a… well the only way he could think to describe it is a poufy inflated mane. She gasped in an incredibly exaggerated manner even standing up on her hind legs. Before suddenly vanishing in blinding speed leaving behind an afterimage of herself for a second that slowly faded.

"Uhh Twilight, what did I just witness. And how did it break the laws of physics."

Giggling to herself she answered innocently. "Oh just a local ponies acting like themselves, trust me it's not a big deal you'll definitely find out more about her later. Well since we are in town and the other two stops I wanted to go to are outside near the everfree forest how about we visit Rarity first, her house is just down the road."

"Sounds good to me, you in charge I'm just following since I don't know my way around."

And the pair continued to chat for another minute until a building came into view that Derick could barely describe. It was two stories, and looked like the second story was made to look like a small carousel on the outside. And everywhere on the building was decorated and or designed in some way with patterns ribbons curtains you name it. It looked like the house of someone who wanted to project an image in his opinion.

Reaching the door Twilight knocked, a few seconds later a white unicorn with a beautifully flowing elegant purplish blue man and tail answered the door. Derick instantly noticed how her mane and coat were completely spotlessly clean to where they almost shined. On her flank were several small diamond markings. 'Well I hit the nail on the head with the appearance thing. But if she is a friend of Twilights I'm sure she is a very nice pony.'

"Hey rarity I came by to introduce you to someone. He mysteriously appeared in ponyville with nothing but the clothes on his back. So I want you to help him feel welcome."

Hearing her words rarity strode out to introduce herself before finally looking at Derick and taking his appearance in. seeing him he noticed her jaw ever so slightly start to lower before she snapped out of it and a small grin took its place. It wasn't sinister or plotting but it was very curious. It honestly kind of scared him a bit.

Finally gathering words it seemed she started talking in a load and embellished but very refined tone.

"Oh my poor dear, it has to be terrible being in a strange place, and with nothing but your clothes."

Chuckling to himself he thaught he would throw in a curveball just to spice things up a bit, he always was one to feed the flames so they say. It didn't help his mouth ran before his mind most of the time.

"Actually Mrs. Rarity when I arrived all my clothes were destroyed, I would've been walking around in the buck if Princess Celestia hadn't used her magic to create these ones."

He let his comment sink in for a few seconds. He could see her processing the words as her eyes travelled up then down then up again before a very small tint of pink flashed and was hidden again.

'Oh I'm going to have a lot of fun here causing a bit of trouble hehe. And I'm still curious what Twilight said about measurements, so might as well fan the flames.'

"Like what you see?"

"Uh h… wait no I mean yes. What I mean is Darling you absolutely must come in those clothes compliment your physique but I absolutely won't allow you to walk around in those for forever. I can't wait to create a masterpiece for you to show off to the whole world!" not a moment later he felt himself pulled into the building and saw measuring tapes flying out of nowhere going up and down every part of his body. 'Huh guess what she said by measurements was literal. She must be a clothing designer from everything in here, there's bolts of cloth and posy shaped mannequins, Yup definitely a designer.

Smirking to himself he decided to continue to push his luck with his comments. "Well I suppose I could let you, I mean how could I say no to such a beautiful and Elegant Lady such as yourself." The words making rarity blush again even harder as she tried to focus on her work. "But In the end I must decline for now seeing as I just arrived here with nothing I couldn't possibly expect to pay you for any of your work. Maybe when I have a j."

Seeming to have snapped out of her blush rarity spoke up cutting him off. "Oh no no no darling I simply must insist. I could never let someone arrive and not even have a change of clean clothing. I would be honored to make you an outfit befitting such a handsome stallion err well whatever you are darling. And do not even think of paying this one is on the house."

Her generosity honestly caught him by surprise. He was used to his world where if someone didn't have money they would starve to death without a second glance, he of course didn't believe like that since he and his mother rest her soul used to act out just to help others.

"That is awfully kind of you Mrs. Rarity, I'm truly happy to have met such a kind and generous person here. Where I'm from most people would let you starve to death if you didn't have money. My mother raised me better than that though I used to always volunteer for the less fortunate, although there were far too many people who just ignored them. I'm glad there are such kind people in this world."

Nearly swooning at his praise to her she simply walked it off to maintain her graceful demeanor. "Don't think nothing of it. It's the least I could do for you, simply think of it as a welcome to ponyville gift. Thinking of such do you have a place to stay yet? I would hate to think of you being out in the cold when there is an empty room here for you if you need it."

These words caught him by complete surprise and nearly choked him up in tears. And he instantly regretted any negative thoughts he had first had seeing the house and thinking merely a simple image obsessed person lived here. "Wow that is one of the most generous things anyone has ever offered me. But once again I must decline, I have already been arranged to stay at the library by both your princess and Twilight. I will not forget your offer though and will find a way to thank you for it."

"Oh psh think not another thaught, I could never let someone simply stay out in the cold. Now I'm sorry to say but I have finished your measurements and am extremely eager to try some things out. I have never attempted to make clothing for a… I'm sorry not to be rude asking but I never did catch what you actually are my dear, I've never seen a creature quite like you before."

"I am a human, I'm not from this world. And I honestly don't quite know how I got here, but if everyone else leaves even a fraction of the impression you did on me I'm already glad I'm here."

"Oh you do know how to sweet talk a lady don't you Mr. Derick. I do believe we will make great friends in time."

"Please just call me Derick."

"Then you must simply call me Rarity, after all we are friends already. Now please I want to get started on your fabulous new ensemble. It was a great pleasure to meet you and I do hope to see you again, perhaps tomorrow you could stop by and try out some clothing ill make for you."

"It would be my honor rarity."

After finishing up their goodbyes and leaving the shop Twilight lead Derick through town to the other side. After a while they started walking down a country path just outside of town. There was a small park nearby with a jungle gym and ducks in a pond. It was a very peaceful area and he enjoyed it immensely.

Breaking the silence twilight spoke up. "So you and rarity appear to of hit it off rather well."

"Yea, in my days I have never met a more generous or kind person. It honestly surprised me because with her house and her personal appearance I would've guessed a completely different personality."

Twilight had to just nod in agreement before speaking. "Yeah I could definitely see how you would think that. She is obsessed with her appearance and everything as she would call it _fabulous_ but she has a very pure and generous heart and is who she truly is. Oh and thinking of my friends here we are at our next stop.

Taking in the surroundings I was stunned, it was like a natural zoo. Birdhouses hung from everywhere in the trees, there was a small river running past with all sorts of fish swimming. Bunnies, birds, chickens, turtles, and even a flamingo could be seen nearby. "Wow" was all I could say.

"I must warn you though. Fluttershy is extremely shy so just don't do anything to startle her."

Reaching the house twilight knocked on the door, and a few moments later it opened revealing a very timid looking Pegasus. She had a mellow yellow coat and a soft pink mane. And on her flank was a set of butterflies. I instantly knew that just from her appearance and how her mane hung to hide part of her face that she would naturally be a very shy and timid pony.

"Hello Fluttershy it's great to see you."

The yellow Pegasus spoke back her voice barely above a whisper but it was very soft and smooth and kind sounding.

"Oh hello twilight yes it is good to see you too." But then she noticed me standing behind Twilight and seemed to shrink back and hide even more behind here mane. I could swear I even heard a scared whimper escape her as well. 'Wow she really is shy.'

Taking it in stride Twilight continued "oh I see you noticed Derick. He is new here in ponyville. I know he may look a little strange but he is very kind and wanted to introduce you."

The protective and caring part of me kicked in immediately. I have no idea why but I just felt the need to protect and care for this Pegasus. Kneeling down to get closer to her height I softened my face and put on the kindest smile I could. "Hello Fluttershy I'm Derick, sorry if I scared you a little bit I know I'm pretty big. But I mean you no harm I'm just trying to make some friends since I'm going to be staying here."

Fluttershy perked up slightly and a bit of her fear melted away but she was still timid of me from the looks of it, but then again she looked that way talking to twilight and they were apparently close friends so I just brushed it off. Standing up she walked over to me. "It's good to meet you Derick, but what are you I know every creature from around here and I've never seen anything like you before. Unless you're from the everfree forest but you seem much to kind to be from there everything in there is very mean and scary. Unless you actually are oh my gosh I'm sorry I didn't mean to call you scary or mean." And she seemed to shrink back again in a mix of shame and fear. It honestly broke my heart a bit that I scared her just from my appearance, I wish I could look nicer to her she seemed nice. But I must seem like a giant and my large build definitely didn't help in this situation.

"It's quite alright, and no I'm not from the forest. I'm from another world, I'm a human."

At the mention of human all fear seemed to vanish and she seemed to suddenly grow slightly bolder.

"Wow a human, I've never met a human before. I would love to learn more about you I know almost everything about all creatures. And humans were thaught to be only myths and foals tales. Are all humans as big as you? You're very large but seem very friendly and kind."

'Heh guess her love of animals won out from being scared of me. Guess I'll just play along for now maybe throw in a few bits to help her relax around me.' "No I'm pretty big for a human most humans are less than six feet tall. And my build is considerably larger than most humans, some would almost call me a freak but I take pride in my size because it makes protecting those close to me that much easier." 'Better not let the part about how I've always failed though slip. Lord knows she might just hate me then.'

Just then though I felt a something small hit my leg. Looking down I saw a small bunny tapping its foot and what looked to be pushing me away. "Did I just get kicked by a bunny?"

That caught Fluttershy attention immediately. "Oh angel why would you do that, Mr. Derick has been very kind you wouldn't want to anger him now would you?"

The bunny just seemed to ignore her instead hopping between myself and Fluttershy before crossing its arms and tapping its foot. I swear the look on its face almost said _you want a piece of me?_

"It's quite alright Fluttershy he just seems very protective of you. He kind of reminds me of myself wanting to protect those closest to him." Reaching out my hand toward the bunny slowly I spoke "its ok little guy I'm not here to hurt anybody. And I'm very impressed by your bravery standing up to someone bigger to protect your friend."

The comment seemed to boost the rabbit's bunny's pride before it changed from an angry look to one that said _that's right I don't let anyone mess with me or Fluttershy._ He seemed to be passive enough when I reached out though and let me pet its head for a second before hopping away into the house.

Fluttershy soft voice picked up again in an apologetic tone. "I'm very sorry about angel he gets pretty protective."

"It's quite alright Fluttershy I'm proud of him for defending you."

A tapping noise could be heard from the inside the house now and it seemed to be getting louder.

"Oh it must be angels lunch time, and that means I have to feed the other animals as well. It was very nice to meet you Derick."

"Likewise, it was nice meeting you too Fluttershy, I'll let you get to the animals, wouldn't want to let any of them go hungry now would we." I chuckled with a wink before stepping back. "She waved us good bye before stepping back into the house and shutting the door.

As we turned to leave Twilight spoke up for the first time since arriving "You seem to be getting along with every pony here, I'm impressed Fluttershy took a liking to you so quick. The first time I met her I couldn't even get her to tell me her name before she almost started crying."

"Well thanks to your warning I was able to prepare myself for her shyness. Sh very gentle and kind pony I can already tell."

"You hit the nail right on the head, Fluttershy is probably the kindest pony you will ever meet."

It was at this time that I noticed our surroundings had transformed into an apple orchard with apple trees as far as the eye could see. Off in the distance I noticed an orange pony with a blonde ponytail main that was wearing a cowboy hat. Watching her for a minute she dashed up to a tree before spinning and bucking it causing the apples to fall.

"That's applejack, she's the net of our introductions. All these trees are part of her family apple farm sweet apple acres."

Noticing us approaching Apple jack started walking on over before calling out. "Howdy Twilight, nice seeing ya. And how might yer friend be he's a might biggun. Names applejack pleasure to meetcha."

This was a pony that I could tell I was going to get along with. From the looks of it she was a hard worker and cut right to the chase. "Names Derick, I just arrived here and Twilight is showing my around and introducing me to her friends."

"Well it's a pleasure to meetcha Derick uhh if you don't mind me askin tho what are ya? Yur definitely not a pony that's fur Shure."

I had a feeling this was going to be an awfully repeated question in the next few days.

"I'm a human, don't really know how I ended up here from my home world but its definitely nice here. And a pleasure to meet all you nice pony folk." 'Did I just say folk? I've been talking to this pony for 10 seconds and I'm already starting to use a southern tongue wow I got comfy around her quick.'

"Wow a human I thaught they were simply a foals tale, well anyways it was mighty nice to meetcha but I need to get caught up. We have a huge harvest going on and I need to stay busy iffin I want to finish for the sun sets."

"Well maybe I could give ya a hand? I'm new here and ifn you don't mind an extra set of hands I could use making a few dollars."

This offer caught her for a moment before she replied. "I don't quite know what a dollar is but I'm guessing wherever your from that's money. Here we use bits, we could always use a spare hand as well iffin you wanna help out. Your pay won't be that great but I'd love to help ya out iffin yer willin to work. And from the looks of it ya got plenty o muscle to spare."

Nodding to applejack I turned to twilight. "Hey twilight you don't need to hang around if you don't want, I know the way back already and can meet ya back at the library later. This way I can have some money so you don't have buy my food as well as provide a roof over my head. Besides I could use the workout after the last few weeks of lying in bed."

Twilight smiled and nodded back to me. "Sure sounds like a plan, don't work too hard though there's something else we need to need do later and I don't need you dead tired." After saying that she looked over at Applejack before mouthing something that looked like the word pink. And after seeing that I caught a knowing wink from applejack.

'Hmm something's going on. Oh well I'm know it's not going to be anything bad so might as well ignore it and play along.'

"So I'll see ya in a few hours back at the library Derick." And with that she turned and started the walk home.

Looking back at applejack I rubbed my hands together before asking. "Alright what's first can't wait to get started."

"Well we need to buck the apples from the trees and carry the baskets back to the barn o'er yonder. I reckon you can help carry the apples back to help save time on trips"

Following applejack to a patch of trees she reared up again and gave the tree a good buck causing all but a few apples to fall off the tree.

"Oh tarnation's there always has to be a few stubborn apples in the bunch."

Looking up the apples were pretty high up. It just had to be the largest tree around that I could see the lowest branch was probably a good 12 feet high. But looked thick and strong so I had an idea.

"Don't worry AJ I got this." Before I took off running at the tree. Right before running into it I jumped planting a foot jumping back off the tree before spinning and catching the branch and hauling myself up. Grabbing the few apples I dropped them down into the baskets below before dropping from the branch back down to the ground."

Applejack just stood there in amazement, before it broke "Now that was just showin off."

Chuckling to myself "Well maybe a little but I will admit it feels good to be moving around and using my muscles again. Oh and I hope you didn't mind me calling you AJ Apple jack just seems kinda like a mouthful."

"Its all good sugercube. And thanks fer getting them apples down for me. Now we just gotta haul them back ta the barn."

I grabbed two baskets by the handles on top and followed AJ back to the barn. Watching her gave me an idea though. She had a special bar across her back with the apple baskets hung from it.

"Hey AJ you got any more of those poles available? Two baskets isn't very heavy for me."

"sorry I don't think so, when we get back the the barn I reckon we can check around to see what we can find fer ya."

After reaching the barn and dropping off the apples I soon found something of use. There were a couple 8 foot planks of wood nearby. Grabbing two I headed back out into the fields with AJ. And after she bucked another tree I figured why not may as well give it a shot.

Walking up to the next tree that had baskets under it I braught my leg up before giving it a straight kick. Surprisingly the whole thing shook like an earthquake before apples started raining down.

"Well all be, you sure do have some muscles now dontcha that's might impressive to do with only one leg."

Taking the compliment and giving off a laugh. "Yeah it didn't look too hard, thankfully I didn't kick it that hard I didn't want to damage your tree."

My words seemed to shock her. "Well that's awefully nice of ya to think about but I doubt you could harm one of these trees that much there pretty tough."

"well I don't know, I did a lot of training back in my home world, and I could kick straight through a brick wall with around three quarters of my strength."

Once again her jaw just dropped before she shook her head. "Well don't go doin that to my trees then but if what ya say is true im might impressed. Well lets haul these apples back to the barn, I noticed ya braught two boards with ya so im sure your going to use that crazy strength to carry a bunch back. You may actually be a pretty good farmhand and ah may need to hire ya more often."

Wordlessly nodding to her I went to the baskets and started sliding them on the boards. The the time I had 4 on each I hoisted the boards onto my shoulders and started haulin the apples back.

She just looked at me before shaking her head. "Dear lord ah wrecken your built like big mac, I wonder wichn of ya is stronger."

Several hours passed workin on the farm with AJ before she hoofed out a small bag filled with coins and told me to head on back to Twilight so I could do whatever she had planned. I had thoroughly enjoyed the work too. Even met her older brother Big Macintosh or Big Mac. Who I quickly learned was the strong and silent type. But after seeing me hauling so many apples at once looked awefully impressed and actually wondered out loud witch one of us was stronger, before just shrugging and headed back to work.

Pocketing the bag of coins I turned to leave waiving bye to my new friend heading back to my new hme wondering what the plans were that she had been talking about. 

**Well there is chapter three. Im sure you all know whats coming up next though. And can I say since this is my first shot at pony fic. DANG its tough trying to write all the different personalities of all the characters. So I would like to apologize if any seemed out of character. But if the did always feel free to drop a review or comment and let me know. Criticism makes us better writers after all. So until next time DEADMAU37 Signing off.**


	4. rainbow crashes and pink parties

**Just wanna throw a shootout to ****Harbinger-of-script**** thanks for the positive review. Helped reassure me I'm not writing total shit hahaha.**

**And yes I am totally ripping off furstreak's idea of wingboners, it is too damn funny to pass up. So furstreak if you ever read this by some off chance thank you for a truly great idea that is if you came up with it in the first place. no clue don't care moving on with the story.**

It was kind of nice walking alone down the path. It was a peaceful scenic route trees all around and a beautiful day out. Plus it was the first time I could actually think to myself all day and my mind was swimming in thaught. Everything from what the princess talked to me about earlier about my magic absorption 'oh yeah crap I need to warn twilight about that. And rarity as well. I'm really lucky she never actually touched me with those measuring tapes. I really don't want to knock someone out by accidentally absorbing all there magic.'

All the new ponies he had met were fresh on his mind too. All of them were friendly and he liked instantly so at least he would have some friends here for now.

But the thaught that weighed most on his mind was the inevitable transformation he would be going through upon topping off his magic tanks. It scared him, best case scenario he would end up a unicorn and fit into society but if it went wrong he could end up some random animal. Although there were worse fates it would kind of suck to be stuck as someone's pet phoenix. But then again

"HEADS UP!"

Instantly snapping out of his train of thaught he surveyed the sky seeing a blur speeding straight at him. Knowing he wasn't going to dodge, not that he would either whatever was coming at him looked to be plummeting from the sky at a dangerous speed. And he would not let any more people get injured on his lack of action.

Quickly spreading his legs and bracing himself the blur slammed into his chest nearly knocking him off his feet.

*cough* "holy shit that smarts" *cough* looking at his arms he found a blue Pegasus with a Mane and tail that resembled a rainbow, on her flank was a cloud shaped marking with a rainbow lightning bolt coming from it.

"Uggg what happened, I feel like I just flew straight into a brick wall. Ouch" the Pegasus started rubbing her head where she crashed for a second before looking at what she ran into.

Seeing Derick's puzzled what just happened look snapped her back to reality. Jumping from his arms in embarrassment with an "eep."

"Hehe calm down now ya just hit your head pretty good crashing into me, I'm not going to hurtcha either or I wouldn't of caught ya to begin with, figured my chest was softer than the ground for a crash landing."

Still rubbing her head the Pegasus landed before speaking, "Pshh barely what are you made of rocks? Speaking of what are you anyways I've never seen anything like you before."

'Yup definitely going to get tired of that question from everyone I meet.' "I'm a human, I ended up here somehow the other day sucked from my own world. Sorry bout the rough landing though, I'm not the softest of people around haha. Don't call them rock hard abs for nothing." I said pulling up the bottom of my shirt and flashing my stomach at her.

'Hey I'm a good guy but doesn't mean I can't be proud of my body and screw with small pony's people at the same time. If I'm gonna ride on the crazy event train I might as well enjoy the trip.'

Her eyes locked onto my stomach before one of the strangest things I have ever seen happened. Both of her wings shot straight out from her sides and fanned out as wide as they could go.

"Uhh" I said pointing back to her wings.

Catching her attention she looked at what I was pointing at before flaring crimson red. And for a few seconds seemed to be straining to try and put her wings back down as I could see them twitching with exertion.

"Did you wings jut have a?"

Her face snapped back to stare at me as she nervously cut me off. "Nope no idea what you're talking about they just uh."

Not letting her get away with it before I had my fun I cut back in "hmm I wonder what I should call this phenomena, I guess the term wingboner would be about right wouldn't you? Or is it you didn't like what you saw and this is just some unexplainable incident."

"No it's a but I… you are so going to get it for this."

Seeing her flustered face I figured I'd cut her a break. "Haha I'm just teasing I didn't mean nothing by it. The names Derick and what may I call you?"

Without missing a beat like nothing had happened, wings still flared she struck up a pose before speaking. "The names Rainbow Dash, number one most awesome talented and fastest flyer in all of Equestria. I'm sure you're honored." She said giving back a sly look.

'Hmm well aren't we the boastful one. Too bad sugar where I'm from I really was the best number one athlete around. Well at least for a year I was but that's not that important.' "Well miss dash, that's a pretty impressive title if I do say so myself. Makes me honored to receive such a magnificent wingboner from such an awesome pony". I teased with a wink.

I could see the frustration and embarrassment burning on her face, before she just seemed to give up and her face turned back to friendly. Before speaking in a tone that kind of caught me off guard. "Heh you should be, you are pretty cute though and I do like an athletic stallion. And judging by what you oh so modestly shoed off you must have at least some moves. But you couldn't ever hope to match up to the number one Pegasus in all of Equestria!"

"Well your right in that category, seeing as I don't have wings there's no way I could beat you there. Well Dash I should be getting back to the library. I guess there are some mystery plans someone has setup for me and I was told to be back before it gets dark out. And the suns going to be setting pretty soon."

"Did you say the library? You must be heading to see Twilight then how do you know her?"

'This must be one of those towns where everyone knows everyone. Rainbow doesn't seem like the pony to hang out at a library.'

"Oh well after ending up in Equestria by lord knows how the princess and twilight agreed to let me stay at the library for a few months before they figure out what to do with me."

This seemed to strike as a surprise to Dash. "Huh well that's kind of crazy, but I'm warning ya Derick Twilights one of my best friends so don't go messing with her or ya got me to deal with." She spoke striking a tough pose.

"Wouldn't dream of it, I mean who in their right mind would want to mess with the number one Pegasus in Equestria after all." Chuckling and giving a wink with my response I waved goodbye and started walking back to town.

Yelling back in an almost playful tone "That's right mister wouldn't want to have to go crashing only on purpose. I'll be seeing ya later then." And with that she flew off.

'There's some real interesting ponies around here, I can already tell it's going to be hard to be bored here.'

Arriving back at the library I found twilight inside studying a book. 'Why do I get a feeling this is a very common sight around here?'

Hearing him enter she set the book down and greeted him. "Oh hey Derick I was wondering when you would get back from helping Applejack."

"Hey Twilight yeah I finished up at the farm a while ago. I would've been back sooner but this Pegasus named Rainbow Dash crashed into me on the way back."

"Oh so you already met Rainbow Dash that's good, she is the last of the group I was going to introduce you to. I would've taken you to see her but she lives on a cloud so it's not somewhere we can really just go visit."

"Uhh lives on a cloud? Isn't that kind of uh you know impossible?" 'Well I would think so but nothing here really obeys physics so why not.'

"Well Pegasus have the ability to stand on clouds, so if you're a Pegasus they are as solid as the ground we stand on. Especially if you put enchantments on them you can create buildings like Rainbow's home."

'Uh huh of course "Makes sense I guess. So what is going on that you wanted me back for?"

"Oh well I wanted to bring you to sugercube corner later to help settle down for the day. It must be pretty hectic to go through everything you did lately, so if you want to why don't you go get cleaned up the bathroom is upstairs. And then we can go get some treats at sugercube corner."

'Yeah go get some treats to help me settle down. Ill totally buy that's all that's going on. Well might as well go get cleaned up at least so I can go get my _treat_.'

Half an hour later I was cleaned up and ready to go. And let me say that was an interesting experience using a pony sized bathroom. Considering the tub/shower was the appropriate size for a twelve year old and I'm above average size. Having to sit in the bath tub to be under the shower head is going to take some getting used to for now.'

Heading back downstairs I found twilight sitting with a book again. "Hey twilight ready to go?"

Setting down her book and hoping up from the couch she stretched out before answering. "Yup, let me just go grab spike and we will head out."

Ten minutes later we arrived in front of sugercube corner. But the place was dark and seemed closed.

"It looks like they are closed Twilight maybe we should come back some other time."

"Maybe. Well let's at least go see if pinkie is here, she seemed busy when we ran into her earlier but I know she would love to meet you."

Entering the building it looked like I was right all the lights were out and it was dark inside.

"Well I guess no one is here we may as well." But just then the lights turned on.

"SURPRISE!"

Looking around where all the ponies I had met today Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie even though I hadn't been technically introduced to her yet. Looking around where streamers and balloons everywhere. And a banner hung across the ceiling titled 'Welcome to Ponyville.'

Dashing from her spot the pink pony appeared in front of me.

"Welcome to ponyville! I saw you with Twilight earlier and I didn't know who you were so I knew you were new here because I know everyone in ponyville and if your new here then I just knew I had to throw you a welcome party because it looked like you were friends with twilight and any friend of hers is a friend of mine by the way my name is Pinkie Pie Where you surprised because it totally wouldn't be a surprise party if you weren't surprised and I spent all day preparing and inviting all of our friends to come surprise you and welcome you to ponyville."

My mind by now was as confused as to what just happened and what laws of nature ignored this pony. Who could break physics and apparently speak 10 sentences worth in about 7 seconds without breathing. I was honestly impressed and amazed.

"Yes I was very surprised. And it's nice to meet you pinkie my name is Derick."

'Great and here comes the whole what are you speech I'm sure.'

"Well it's nice to meet you Derick and I'm sure we will be great friends. But for now it's time to PARTY!"

'That simple? No what's a human spiel? I think I like Pinkie already.'

For the next few hours I was constantly the attention of all the ponies. They made me dance and play so many games with them that belonged at a 6 year olds birthday I honestly would've thaught I was going to go insane. But the strange part is I didn't. Its odd how many grown men play pin the tail on the donkey err pony. Or bob for apples but it didn't even seem out of place here. Instead of laughing at you like most of humanity would these ponies laughed with you and were genuine. It was refreshing and actually pretty fun to say the least.

After pinning the tail on rainbow dash, nearly drowning because my teeth got stuck on an apple glued to the bottom of the bobbing for apples tub. Being knocked halfway through a wall by pinkies dancing and being the king of a conga line the party seemed to be coming to a close.

"Wow that was fun girls I haven't done most of these things since I was a small child, it was actually really fun."

Pinkie pie just bounced up and down answering "Of course silly it wouldn't be a party if it wasn't fun."

Looking around it was pretty obvious that most everyone here was already very tired though, except for pinkie pie. I swear if humanity could harvest her raw energy it would render nuclear energy obsolete.

"Thank you very much for throwing me this party pinkie, but I think it's time for me to call it a night I've had a very eventful day. And it looks like some of your friends could call it a night too."

Just then Applejack let out a loud yawn "I hear that sugercube. I'm plumb tuckered, I'm going to head back to the farm. Got plenty of work to do in the mornin and I don't need to be dead tired."

Nodding in agreement Rarity spoke up. "Yes I quite agree darling, and I have much work to do tomorrow. Oh and Derick you simply must come by the boutique tomorrow and try on your new clothing."

After wrapping up the rest of the goodbyes Twilight led me back to the library.

"It was awfully nice of all of them to go out of their way to make me feel welcome here. It's crazy to say it so quickly but I'm liking this place so much more than where I come from already."

Twilight nodded back "I'm glad you like it here Derick, and all of your new friends seem to be taking quite a shine to you as well. *YAWN* oh haha sorry I guess I am really tired after all. Well seeing as you are so big unfortunately I don't have anywhere to let you sleep. Let me go scrounge up as many spare pillows and blankets as we have and we can put together a makeshift bed for you until we can figure something better out."

"That's fine with me, I'm used to sleeping anywhere." 'Can't be worse than sleeping in a desert or jungle while on a recon mission anyways.'

*KNOCK* *KNOCK*

"Uhh Twilight I think someone is at the door."

"Yea your right but who on earth would be here at this hour?" walking to the door she opened it to reveal a Stocky Stallion with a clipboard.

"This is the ponyville library correct?" he asked.

"Yes it is and who may you be?" She responded in a mix of tired and irritated.

"I have a delivery here for one Twilight Sparkle, along with a note." He replied while handing over the note.

_Twilight I apologize for the late hour, but I realized that Derick will be too large for any accommodations you could offer him tonight. I would have had it sent earlier but it had to be custom made to accommodate his unusual size to pony standards. I would not like to welcome a guest to my kingdom only to have to sleep on the floor._

_ P.C_

Reading the note Twilights face perked up significantly. "Derick you're not going to believe this but the Princess had a bed custom made for you and sent here."

*Ahem* "I apologize ma'am but it is late and we were paid extra to make this delivery. Could you direct us to where you would like it brought?"

Ten minutes later found a fully set up King sized bed in the spare room of the library. It was quite the sight though. The sheer size of the bed dwarfed the room and almost completely took up the entire guest room.

Twilight could not stop staring at it. "Wow this thing must have cost a fortune, I can only imagine how much it costs to make a Pegasus down mattress of this size. A standard pony sized mattress of Pegasus down costs almost 3000 bits."

"Uhh is that a lot? I'm sorry I do not know how your currency works here."

"I'll put it this way, the cost of that mattress could probably buy you a small house in canterlot."

"I'm going to assume that translates to VERY EXPENSIVE."

"I'll say, you must have made quite the impression on the princess for her to give a gift like this."

"I will definitely have to write her a thank you letter in the morning then. But for now let's break this bad boy in." stepping toward the mattress I jumped on and layer back. "OH MY GOD, Twilight you need to lay on this." I reached over and patted the mattress next to me. I felt like I was laying on a bed of pure relaxation, I sank into it loosing myself to the bliss of comfort.

Looking over I saw Twilight approaching the bed with a blush of red on her face and a look of hesitation.

"Hey I'm not asking you to come snuggle up you don't need to be shy. But dear lord this is the comfiest mattress I have every layer on." I could already feel myself drifting into the land of sleep. A few moments later I felt the mattress bounce slightly.

"Oh sweet Celestia."

"Told you it was *YAWN* comfy."

"You weren't *YAWN* kidding. I could just lay here and drift away." She replied. Each word getting heavier as if she was trying to stay awake.

A few moments later I could hear the slow rhythmic breathing of Twilight next to me letting me know she had fallen asleep, and at the moment I couldn't care because in about 3 seconds flat I would be joining her in the world of dreams.

**So I'm cutting this one a bit short. I just wanted to wrap up the rest of day one since it's seemed to drag on. Starting next chapter though things should pick up. Once again I love all criticism good and bad so be sure to drop a review or comment.**


	5. Time with new friends

A week had passed since I had moved into the library with twilight and spike. And man it has been a very interesting week. There were a lot of interesting events that happened with my new pony friends. I still laugh and then cringe every time I think about the first day waking up with twilight in my bed.

_Flashback_

*chirp* *chirp*

'not know birds five more minutes… why do I feel like I'm covered in fur?' opening my eyes I found twilight curled up and pressed into me. Smirking to myself I started to run my fingers over her shoulder hoping to wake her up. A few minutes later she started to stir speaking half asleep

"Mrrm not now shpike, five more min*YAWN*utes."

"You know Twilight, I know this bed is comfortable and all but if you wanted to snuggle all you had to do is ask."

She sat there for a minute still half asleep before the words registered in her head. Her hoof raising and pressing behind her until it prodded into me. I guess that was her way of finding out if it was a dream or not because in about a half second and a blue of purple she was out of the bed her face crimson red in embarrassment.

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry I didn't mean to I'm so sorry, I don't even remember doing that. All I remember is you telling me to feel how comfy the mattress was and the next thing I know I was asleep."

I chuckled to myself at her frazzled response. "It's alright Twi, I know how it is to wake up and not remember how you got there. You're not really in control when you sleep. We can just pretend this didn't happen if it makes you more comfortable."

The red of her face seemed to slowly start to fade. But a mischievous look replaced it "Ever the gentle colt aren't you Derick. But I didn't see you arguing about it at all. Maybe you just wanted to take advantage of the poor tired pony, I know you're smooth with the ladies but tricking a poor defenseless girl into bed, tsk tsk."

'Uhh did the innocent bookworm just crack a dirty joke at me?'

I would've responded but that just seemed to be the exact moment that spike woke up and walked past my room hearing everything.

His eyes were as wide as saucers, "Did Twilight just make a dirty joke?"

'Huh guess great minds think alike.'

Taking that as my cue to get back at her for the comment. "Oh she is just trying to cover up waking up curled up next to me I know I can be considered attractive but seriously to wake up with girls curled up to me is pretty impressive if I do say so myself."

And bam the red returned. "I did not and you know it, I was just very tired and you didn't get any blankets before tricking me into falling asleep on your bed. And it just so happens you are very warm."

"Oh come now twilight that just makes you sound desperate blame the blankets, you know you just wanted to snuggle up to me."

That seemed to put her over the edge as a devious smile appeared on her face. "Oh I'll show you snuggle." A moment later her horn started to glow purple.

'SHIT NO, I totally forgot to warn her about magic around me I have to stop her.' "Twilight wait stop don't use magic I." but I was too late as a purple glow appeared around me then faded a moment later she dropped to the ground.

"Shit, spike can you check on her? I forgot to mention that for some reason I'm absorbing magic and she probably just used up all her magic trying to get back at me. I'm so stupid to forget that even after the princess explaining it to me."

He immediately rushed over to her before checking her over "She is fine just exhausted from overuse of magic."

"Thank god" I walked over picking her up and setting her back down in the bed.

Looking back at spike I saw he had an angry and accusing look on his face at me.

"I'm guessing your wanting an explanation huh?"

Twenty minutes later after I had finished explaining to spike and he seemed to forgive me Twilight woke back up. "Uhh what happened, I feel like I just tried to teleport my whole house to canterlot."

Another fifteen minutes of explaining and apologizing later Twilight forgave me after berating me for forgetting to mention that little detail.

_End flashback_

Yeah that was definitely an interesting morning to say the least.

It was almost as strange as the next day when he ran into Pinkie Pie again, he didn't even want to remember that even because every time he did he somehow got a migraine trying to explain everything he witnessed. And he still had no idea where that cannon came from. And don't even get started on what apparently everyone called the pinkie sense. It seemed to literally find laws of logic and break them just to fuck with his head, I mean seriously one morning he had been taking a bath in the mini to him tub when he felt something clamp onto his leg. Literally one second later Pinkies head popped out of the showerhead and asked if he had seen an alligator in the tub because her shoulder was twitchy. And sure enough a small toothless alligator had clamped onto his leg.

On other less mind melting topics he had grown quite fond of the Apple farm and had made pretty good friends with the interesting apple family. And even struck up a pretty good albeit quite friendship with AJ's older brother Big Macintosh

_Flashback_

Derick had decided to go visit sweet apple acres again, last time he had enjoyed his time on the farm. Physical work always brought a sense of accomplishment to him and most aspects of a ponies life he had noticed didn't include much. Magic probably didn't help this feat, most people who could just make something happen with magic wouldn't exert themselves to do it manually.

Making his way to the orchard he noticed AJ out bucking apples in an orchard near the barn.

"Heya AJ how's the bucking going."

Stopping her work for a second she trotted over to Derick. "Howdy Derick, going pretty good. Stopping by for a visit? Or hoping to make a few bits, not often we get someone who can actually keep up round here."

"Well I could probably use the exercise so if you got something that needs doing I'd be willing."

She put her hoof to her chin for a few seconds in thaught. "Well I have the bucking under control here but Big Mac may be able to use your help in the fields over yonder."

"Sounds good thinking bout it though I don't believe I've met Big Mac yet."

"Well now's your chance, he is the big red stallion in the fields over there." She said pointing in a direction away from the barn.

"Sounds good I'll go introduce myself."

Heading over to the fields I soon found the pony in question. He was pretty large considering the average pony size standing a good foot taller than the standard pony. He was also pretty stocky built with muscle, which was reinforced by the huge plow he was pulling through the fields. Jogging up to him I saw him take notice of me stopping plowing to watch me approach.

Reaching him I waved to great him "Hello your Big Macintosh correct?"

Swishing a piece of grass in his mouth around for a second he replied "Eyup."

'Man of many words I see'

"Nice to meetcha my names Derick I'm friends with AJ, she told me you could use some help out here in the fields."

Looking around the field which had a large area still to be plowed he nodded again "Eyup, I reckon I could use some help plowing iffin I want to finish today. You up to plowin?"

Giving my muscles a stretch I responded with a grin. "I bet I'm up for it, do you have any more equipment?"

"Eyup, seein as ya aint a normal pony I doubt a collar would fitcha right but let me go to the barn and check what we got available."

A few minutes later he returned from the barn with a plow and a large horse collar and a large padded blanket.

"I wrecken if ya pad the collar with the blanket it should work fine"

A few minutes later I was rigged into the collar and led to a nearby field, it was a bit large for me but with the blanket wrapped over my shoulders it was a pretty snug fit. If I planned on doing this though I bet I could create a vest to attach the plow to.

I spent the next few hours pulling the plow through the dirt, it was hard work and required a lot of muscle but it wasn't something I was completely unfamiliar with. Back in my training days there was a very similar exercise where you rigged a sled with huge amounts of weight and pulled it. One of the things the program always taught was that its movements were designed to help you in everyday life. Times like this I look back on that and think there more correct than they think. 

Roughly four hours after we started I had finished with my area and met back up with big mac who was finishing his second. Walking up to him I gave out a friendly chuckle. "Dang I thaught I was moving pretty quickly too, you must be pretty dang strong."

"Eyup, though I must admit I didn't think you would do so well using only two legs."

We spent the next twenty minutes bringing in all the gear chatting. Witch mostly involved me talking and him throwing in short responses, but it was a nice enjoyable conversation. He was actually a pretty cool guy, and he didn't make you feel like you were boring or irritating him by talking too much. He just preferred to speak less, and he always made got more across with a simple sentence with each word than most people can with a small speech.

Back at the barn AJ was just finishing up bringing the last of the apples she had bucked in from the fields.

"Well howdy you two, howd the fields come along."

Speaking up for the both of us I replied. "Pretty well actually, and can I say dang your brothers strong I thaught I was moving quick and he still did double what I accomplished."

It seemed like a pretty modest statement to me so I was confused when AJ's face showed surprise. "Wait you actually managed to plow half of what he did? I'm impressed I he is Atleast three times faster than me with that plow. There's a reason he is in charge of plowing while I buck."

Scratching the back of my head in a bit of embarrassment I replied with a friendly chuckle. "Well I have had some practice doing something similar to this, and besides I always liked a good challenge."

She just shook her head in a disbelieving way "Well I wrecken you musta built up quite an appetite from the work how's about joining us fer dinner. I'm sure Granny Smith and Applebloom would love to meetcha."

My stomach decided to answer for me as a load grumble echoed from it. "Well I believe there's your answer im starved haha."

We made our way to the farmhouse and AJ pointed me to a washroom to get cleaned up. A couple minutes later I followed my nose to the kitchen.

I was amazed at the scene, there was a large table set out filled to almost overflowing with so much food I couldn't believe it, it was like a Thanksgiving dinner on appleroids. I seriously didn't even know so many things could be made from apples but my nose and my stomach weren't complaining. It smelled and looked fantastic and I couldn't wait to dig in.

During dinner I was introduced to the rest of the apple family. Granny Smith I took a shine to, she reminded me of my grandma. Old fashioned in her beliefs, a sharp and witty tongue, and a mean ass cook. It was also pretty amusing listening to her crazy antics through dinner. She also made me instantly feel like I was almost part of the family, treating me exactly like the rest of her family and completely ignoring my appearance as a non-pony. Come to think of it Big Mac hadn't even brought it up either. Upon asking them about it she responded.

"I've seen many strange folk in my day sonny, and I wright don't care whatcha look like, its whatcha are on the inside that counts. And you got guts specially after the way I herdja handled the plow earlier."

It was a said in a completely no nonsense tone, and I practically translated it to. Don't care I like ya, from the tone she spoke it. It honestly made me feel warm how these folks could just accept a stranger into their home without a batted eyelash.

Applebloom though was another story. Throughout the whole dinner I was bombarded with questions about my everything. What I was, what it was like to stand on two legs, how I got so strong. She even told me all about her club the cutie mark crusaders and seeing how I didn't have on asked me to join her club.

"That's something I been meaning to ask by the way, I've noticed all the marks on everybody. And I've kind of made the connection they represent that pony in some way, but what's the scoop on them? If I'm gonna be living here seems like something I ought to know."

AJ seemed to volunteer to answer my question. "Every pony gains there cutie mark when they discover their true talent. They are special and unique to themselves, like both mine and Big Macs symbolize our love and skill in tending to our apples."

"Huh makes sense, but are they called cutie marks even on stallions? It seems kind of feminine. I personally wouldn't go around calling anything about myself as cute. People from where I'm from would laugh at somebody like me having anything called a cutie mark, sorry I'm not saying that o be rude I'm just from a very different place."

Big Mac took the turn to answer the question. "It's just the way it is, every pony has one so no one has to be ashamed of nothing."

"Huh I guess when you put it that way it sounds a lot better. Where I'm from no one has anything like cutie marks. Heck if a guy even got caught saying the words cutie mark he would probably get laughed at. But if every person had one then there would be no reason to laugh."

The rest of the dinner continued and there was never a dull moment. Between Applebloom going on about all the crazy ideas her and her friends had concocted to get cutie marks. Granny Smith telling old stories and AJ and Big Mac getting in an eating contest. I still don't know how so much food can disappear into a girl that smalls frame, I don't think Big Mac does either from the look on his face after losing. It was all in all an extremely enjoyable evening for myself.

_Flashback end_

The day after that was another strange one. Pinkie Pie had… wait nope not touching that one I want to keep my sanity by not remembering. I still have no idea where she pulled that trombone from. Or where on earth she acquired a full-size medieval style trebuchet but something's are better left unanswered.

Pending insanity aside there were a couple other events that had happened I smiled looking back on.

_Flash back_

The sun barely started to peak over the horizon and it was a beautiful morning.

I had woken at the crack of dawn like I used to and decided to go get some exercise, I always felt it was a great way to start a day. Although I still should look into finding something other than jeans to run in. not that I hadn't done it many a time before it just felt better in a nice pair of shorts.

An hour job later found me down the path back to town after a loop around sweet apple acres. Halfway back to town though I heard a faint sound coming ahead. It sounded like. Singing?

Slowing down and approaching slower I could hear it slowly getting loader. It was a beautiful and melodic voice that seemed to be chorused by the sound of birds. Approaching quietly I soon found the source, it was Fluttershy.

Tucked back jut a ways off the path she was singing and dancing with a flock of small songbirds flying around her. Was this the same timid and scared stiff from being shy girl I met a few days ago? I was enthralled by her performance it was truly beautiful. I sat and watched from my hiding spot for ten minutes before she slowly came to a stop of her song.

Standing up I approached the edge of the trees I had hidden in and knocked on the wood of one hard enough for her to hear. She looked over to where I stood before pure shock and embarrassment flashed onto her face. Immediately she went to hide behind her long man covering her face. And dashed behind a tree, 'yup saw that one coming if she was so shy she probably just got embarrassed she got caught.'

Deciding to take the initiative I walked over to around 20 yards from where she hid. Kneeling down on the grass I sat down to make myself closer to her size. Speaking in a very soft and kind voice I called out to her. "I'm sorry Fluttershy I didn't mean to startle you, I just heard singing from over here and can I just say that it was absolutely beautiful, and I hope you're not mad at me for listening to you. I enjoyed it very much you are very talented."

She stayed behind the tree for a few seconds before I saw just the corner of her face poke out to look at me. "D-do you mean that?"

Looking back I gave a warm and friendly smile "Of course, it was great. I'm sorry if I embarrassed you though, I didn't mean to spy but I guess I was just enchanted by your music. Would you mind coming out from the tree? It's rather hard to talk to a tree." I let out a small friendly laugh at the joke trying to coax her out. "Besides we are friends right? Or Atleast I would like to be considered your friend. And friends don't need to hide from their friends, they support each other instead. And from what I heard there is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of with your singing, it's a wonderful gift you have."

After a minute she walked out from the tree and sat down near me still hid behind her mane. "Do you mean it?"

"Of course friends shouldn't ever lie to their friends about things like this. "Thank you, nobody has ever complimented my singing before. And yes I think I would like to be your friend. That is if it's alright with you."

"Of course Fluttershy, I already consider you my friend, and if there is anything you ever need don't hesitate to ask. Friends are always there for friends so you don't have to be scared around me."

"I don't, well I was, but then you… I'm not scared of you, I was at first but for some reason I'm not anymore. I can see you are a very kind and good friend already. If you wouldn't mind me asking though what are you doing all the way out here so early in the morning the sun has only barely been up for half an hour."

"Well I decided to go for a run and get some exercise, other than working on the farm with AJ the two days I haven't gotten much exercise since arriving in ponyville."

It was at this moment that I noticed that I probably looked and smelled a little funny to her, especially if the sweat marks on my shirt had any say in the matter.

"Wow you must really enjoy exercise, especially since you worked on Applejacks farm twice, I know that the work they do is very tough so you must be very strong to be able to keep up and still do exercise on the side. I mean if it was me I probably couldn't do anything to help on her farm, I'm really week and worthless like that." She moped out at the end.

'Dang this girl has some serious for real esteem issues.'

"And you know what Flutter, that's completely ok. Just because you aren't physically strong does not make you 1 tiny bit less of a great pony than it does anybody else. Everyone is special and unique in their own ways. Myself for example, if I tried to sing to the birds like you did they would probably all fly away so fast we would never see them again."

This actually got both of them to share an honest laugh together.

"And besides the main reason I'm so attached to staying in shape and being strong is to protect and help those who aren't. I've made mistakes and failed to help people before and I've promised myself I never would again. So like I said if you truly need anything Flutter just find me and I'll be glad to help." 'Wow this is getting sappy fast I should probably find a polite way to excuse myself before it just gets awkward, damn this kind mind of mine.

Standing up I stretched out for a few seconds before looking back to Fluttershy who was still lost in thaught at my words. But I could see a small smile appearing on her face. "Well speaking of which I should probably get back to it then, don't want to get too flabby by skipping the second half of my run. I hope to see you again soon Fluttershy." I waved good bye and took off jogging and could just see her snap out of it and wave back to me before I lost sight of her.

_Flashback end_

I still felt bad running away like that but I didn't want the situation to get awkward, and I'm definitely not trying to get into any form of a relationship right now especially due to my current condition. But I just can't help myself, especially when faced with someone so innocent and just soo... I don't know how to describe it. It's just like an urge to protect her, she seems so helpless, innocent and vulnerable.

Overall running into her had been a really pleasant surprise during his morning workout. But the bundle in his hand made him smile. He was currently on the way back to the library from rarities and she had solved the jeans problem for him pretty well.

_Flashback_

*Knock* *Knock*

Derick stood at the entrance of Carousel boutique. Rarity had told Twilight to have him come by that day to look into some clothing she had been working on for him.

'I wonder what kind of clothing a pony will come up with for a human, I don't know whether I should be exited or nervous. From what I saw last time Rarity definitely favors dresses and less uhh manly designs to begin with. And I don't even know if she can pull off my shape, oh well guess I'll have to just find out.' Right then the door opened.

"Welcome to Carousel boutique where everything is shic unique and magnifique. Oh Derick my dear wonderful to see you, please tell me you're here to look into your new wardrobe. I've been playing with the measurements I took and have some things I would just love to have you try on."

"Well twilight told me you wanted to come by so here I am, and I would love to see the clothing you've come up with. Oh and I'm sure twilight let you know but a reminder never hurts, do not use magic on me please for your own safety."

She just nodded her head in knowing. "Yes darling I heard about what happened with twilight and I'll be sure to be extra careful now come in I can't wait to show you what I came up with."

Following her into the shop I noticed several dresses on mannequins over what I assumed was her workshop area of her shop.

She walked off to a side room calling back to me.

"Please make yourself comfortable and I will retrieve what I've worked on for you. I noticed your very well developed body and assumed you live a very active lifestyle so I took the liberty of creating both an outfit I think will be simply stunning on you and something else for you to wear when you work. I assume you only have the clothing on your back and just couldn't let someone like yourself be limited by your wardrobe." She spoke as she walked back levitating some folded clothing with her.

"I hope I got these right dear, I've never had to create anything in a shape like this before but I think I nailed it if I do say so myself. First try these on." And she floated over the larger portion of the folded clothes.

Grabbing them from where she set them next to me I went behind a screen nearby obviously set up for changing and put changed clothes. I was actually pleasantly surprised they fit great, the shirt was snug and fitted almost perfectly and the pants where a nice breathable fabric and fit great but were obviously made to look nice. And the last piece I grabbed to put on, wait is this a.

"Uhh rarity are capes common in Equestria? There pretty outdated from where I'm from."

"Oh yes dear, there not too common but are indeed found in many high class places, and I just believe that you will pull it off fabulously."

'Alright if she says so I guess I'll give it a shot.' Fastening the cape into place I stepped out to show her how it looked.

"Oh my gosh dear you look absolutely dashing if I do say so myself, you simply must see yourself." She seemed very excited about it so I followed her over to a triple mirror set she had set up obviously for people to check out their purchases beforehand.

'Wow I must say it was a rather unique but nevertheless good looking ensemble she had created for me.'

It consisted of blue dress style pants, a white fitted elbow length shirt with a blue patterned design on it slightly resembling the diamonds of her cutie mark, it was a tight fit but made of a slightly elastic but high quality material so it didn't feel restrictive at all. And a cloak that hung to around my knees, it was a brilliantly white on the back with an almost identical copy of her three diamonds on the back. And on the inside it was a silky bright blue. All in all it was an extremely unsubtle and flashy design while being pretty simple and not over the top. The garments were all fit almost to my exact size, I'm actually amazed she was able to get it so close to perfect with only a quick measuring. They were tight but only just so that it showed my toned muscles through the clothing.

"Its great rarity, and I'm surprised it fights almost perfectly."

She made a modest gesture that seemed to say 'of course darling what would you expect'. "I'm so glad you like it, I was so unsure about what to make but I decided since it was a welcome to Equestria gift to you I wanted it to be personal. I hope you don't mind that it has my marking on it but I wanted you to remember me every time you wear it. And everyone else who gazes upon it will see my work and be just be simply amazed and ask themselves who created such a marvelous ensemble. But it is hardly a subtle everyday outfit so I believe you will also enjoy the other set." She said gesturing to the second pile.

Grabbing them I headed back behind the screen and swapped the clothing out carefully folding the beautiful gift she had given me.

Stepping back out revealed a much simpler and more my style outfit. It was a black pair of shorts with purple stripes down the sides. The shirt was a t-shirt similar to the one I already owned but it was a dark purple tight but breathable and comfy. Stepping into the mirror set I noticed something else about them on the back of the right shoulder was a copy of what looked like Twilights mark.

"You added twilight's cutie mark to these? Isn't that kind of personal to her? With the other outfit you did it personally as a gift so I love it but shouldn't I Atleast have permission to wear another pony's mark?"

"Well darling Twilight actually came by yesterday and looked at the outfit I designed for you, after which she told me about your morning routine and commissioned me for an outfit for you and helped me design something she thaught you would enjoy. So if you're worried about her mark on it it was her idea to begin with, she must like you to want to put her mark on you darling. The other ponies better keep an eye out it looks like there's some competition for you." She said in a teasing way with a wink. I didn't even know if she was joking or not, twilight had never seemed to take an interest in me that way. I just decided to chalk it up to rarity teasing me and twilight being a good friend.

"Well rarity I must say I am thoroughly satisfied with both. And I can't wait to show off your colors except I'm not entirely sure where I would they seem to be a little over the top for everyday life."

She looked stunned for a second "Wait you mean Twilight didn't tell you? And you've been here for a whole week!? Why it's only in a week how could she forget? Darling the Grand Galloping Gala is coming up. It is the most prestigious and high class event in all of Equestria, only those specially invited by the princess are allowed to attend. Yesterday twilight brought the ticket that Princess Celestia sent for myself. And I know for a fact that there is one for you as well."

"Huh I had no clue, oh well I'm sure she had a good reason or planned on telling me soon. I'll head over to the library and ask her about it. Thank you very much rarity for the amazing outfit I can't wait to show it off with pride."

She blushed at my compliment but without missing a beat spoke back. "It's my pleasure, and seeing you display it with pride makes it all worth it. Now I believe you need to head on back home and talk to twilight to plan for the gala.

Changing back into my old clothes I gathered up the two outfits and thanked her again before heading out.

_Flashback end_

Witch brought me back to now, I was heading on back to the library to ask twilight about the upcoming gala.

I had just arrived and entered to find twilight studying like normal.

Entering the room she set the book down before looking up at me. "Oh hello Derick I was wondering when you would get home, there's something I would like to talk about." She had an exited look on her face. '5 bucks says I know where this is going' I chuckled inwardly at myself.

"Alright what's up you look awfully exited, what happened did we get invited to a royal ball or something?"

Her face seemed to deflate a bit at my remark. "Oh rarity must have told you, I'm sorry I didn't mention it earlier I just wanted to make sure you were invited before I brought it up and I just received the tickets yesterday."

Sitting down on the couch next to her I pulled out the blue and white outfits bundle.

"Yeah rarity told me after she showed me this, and don't sweat it I knew you had a perfectly fine reason, and seeing as you were probably about to tell me anyways no harm no foul.

"So what do you think about it? This is the grand galloping gala I mean, all the high class ponies and royalty will be there. You don't actually have to go if you're not comfortable with it, I mean outside of ponyville no one has ever met a human before."

I just shrugged my shoulders indifferently. "It doesn't bother me any, the ponies here adjusted pretty quickly to me, I'm sure they'll get in there stares then go back to their own business. Plus I can't let the outfit rarity prepared for me go to waste she would be so disappointed."

We spent the next two hours talking about the gala. Twilight had told me about last year's gala and how it had turned into a complete disaster for everyone. It was quite an interesting tale to say the least. Fluttershy the kind pony she is despite how good she was with animals had went berserk in the Castle gardens, Pinkie had terrorized the party hall, Applejacks Apple stand fell short and was ignore for the most part. Rainbow Dash despite meeting the group Twilight called the wonder bolts was disappointed in the end, Rarity's I guess had a bad experience with a prince. And twilight who went to spend time with Celestia was disappointed because Celestia was too busy greeting the guests.

But from the sounds of it the group had already talked it over and decided to take another shot at it.

Well I guess no matter what happens it sounds like it will be an interesting night to remember.

**Well there goes another chapter hope you enjoyed it. Next chapter is going to be the gala and will probably be an extended length chapter with a twist. So please review and let me know how its going. What you liked what you didn't like etc. and thank you very much to all my readers**


	6. The Gala pt1

**Thank you all for reading and following my story so far. After my last chapter somebody messaged me concerned about my spelling. Hey I think my autocorrect is doing a pretty ok job, and besides you can't really blame me can you? I mean I was the kid who had a composite act score of 27 but scored only 13 on my English. It's literally that much of a weak spot for me, the fact I can write this story at all means I deserve some sort of medal or trophy I think.**

"Rise and shine sleepyhead."

"Urmff nurr 5 moar minutes."

"Derick come on wake up. It's already past noon and the train to canterlot leaves in a couple of hours, I told you that challenging Applejack to a drinking contest last night wasn't a good idea."

"Alight fine Twi, I'm up I'm up. And just for the record I did come out victorious didn't I?"

Twilight just face hoofed before looking at me. "Yes but she also has one third your body mass to hold the alcohol. Now hurry and get cleaned up, we are supposed to all meet at rarities in an hour to get ready for the gala.

Oh yeah the gala, wow had it already been a week? Time in ponyville just seemed to fly by. There was never a dull moment or lack of something to do, whether it be working on the apple farm. Or visiting Flutter shy's cottage and spending time with the animals. Or even surprisingly chilling with Rainbow Dash, heck once ya got to know her and got passed her showing off she was pretty fun to be around. Rarity was a little harder to spend time with since dresses weren't exactly my cup of tea and I wouldn't let her drag me to the spa yet. And then pinkie pie, I had actually begun to get used to the antics of the pink pony. I could now witness her in action for excess up to five minutes before any form of headache from lack of sense would appear, so it was improving. Although I still had no idea what happened to that coconut and how she had managed that with only a soup ladle three rubber bands and a nine iron. Or where she even got the nine iron considering I don't think ponies can golf.

But today was the day I had been hearing about in excitement from all my friends. Their second and my first shot at the grand galloping gala. Fluttershy was eager to try and befriend the animals in the palace gardens again. Applejack had come up with a whole new what she called _high class menu_ for her apple cart and was hoping to make a killing at the gala selling her farms products. Pinkie… well I honestly don't know what she hoped to accomplish but I actually wanted to witness it, because I had the strange feeling that the party cannon was going to be making an awkward appearance today. Rainbow dash was convinced she would be able to impress the wonder bolts this year and get in the cool crowd as she dubbed it. And Twilight had accepted that the princess would probably be busy with guests again this year but hadn't given up spending some time with her.

Surprisingly rarity was the one that actually hoped less happened this year, from what knowledge I gathered last year she went searching for a prince and had even found one. But it was far from a happily ever after scenario, this year it sounded like she just wanted to stick with her fashion and socializing with high class ponies. Seemed like a pretty safe bet for a good evening to her in my opinion.

"Are you still in bed!? Don't make me come up there mister."

The threat from down below made me shiver, I could still remember the last time I had refused to get out of bed and twilight had to get him out of bed. Last time it consisted of a bucket of ice cold water and 2 nights of sleeping in a moist bed.

"Nope I'm up just heading to take a shower." I climbed out of bed and made my way to the bathroom before cleaning up in the pony sized shower. I had actually gotten the hang of it and figured out a few tricks to make it work. But let's just say staying bent that way gets a little tiring after too long.

Finishing up in the shower I dried off and wrapped the towel around myself, it was pretty dinky only covering the top half of my thighs but hey Atleast it protected my modesty, err well somewhat Atleast.

"Hey twilight should I put on my gala outfit or something else till we get to Rarity's?"

Calling back from the kitchen she answered "Probably something else for now, let's avoid as many opportunities to get it dirty as we can. You haven't seen rarity mad until you get her clothing she is proud of dirty."

I shuddered at the thaught of a pissed Rarity before going and throwing my black shorts and my yellow shirt with Fluttershy's cutie mark. It still surprised me but after the girls had seen the purple shirt twilight had made for me every one of them had one made for me with their own marks. I guess it was just a symbol of friendship to them? Well now I had 5 shirts with their marks on them. All but Rarity's and none of the girls other than Twi and rarity knew about that outfit yet.

Getting dressed I made my way down to the kitchen where spike was just finishing up making some pancakes and dishing them up for twilight and myself.

After eating we all made our way down to the carousel boutique and found the entire rest of the gang hanging out waiting for us.

As soon as we joined them though my danger sense started going off, and it was warning me to get away fast.

Just then rarity came into the room and called out. "Alright who is ready for a makeover!? We have to look fabulous for the gala after all."

Hearing the word makeover just sent the alarm off even louder, grabbing spike I slowly backed out of the room, "Come on spike, let's give the girls some uhh space for their makeovers." Before promptly bolting out of the room and into an empty room in the boutique. Calling out behind me I yelled back to the girls "Spike and I are going to go get ready we will see you all in a little bit."

As we escaped err calmly left the room to find another area to change I felt spike wrap his arms around my bicep like he was hugging it. "Thank you so much, I thaught I was going to have to go through that again, last time though nobody was here to let me leave. I had nightmares for weeks."

I patted the young dragons head while whispering back to him "Its ok spike, I understand. And I'll make sure you don't have to go through that again, that's one of the reasons us manly men have to stick together."

Pulling back he just snorted half-jokingly. "Sure you can call yourself a manly man, your even more muscular than Big Macintosh, I'm just a tiny pipsqueak."

Laughing at his pouting I responded. "That may be true but from what I understand dragons get pretty big, I'm sure you won't be that way for very long."

Spike and I continued chatting for the next two hours nonchalantly and not in a hurry at all.

"Uhh Derick shouldn't we get dressed soon? The train leaves in less than an hour."

"Trust me little man we have Atleast another fifteen minutes but I guess you're right." We both changed into our respective ball outfits, seeing mine spike got extremely jealous seeing rarity's mark but tried to and failed to hide it.

"Tell ya what spike your looking sharp in that tux, I bet your going to be popular with all the lady's at the festival tonight."

Hearing that he busted into a pose showing off his arms "Yeah probably all the ladies just go crazy when they see me, I can barely keep them off."

Laughing at the small dragon I sat back down, "well the train leaves in 45 minutes and we are 20 minutes away so I figure the girls should just be finishing up there makeovers by now, should we go and check it out?"

"Probably, and besides if we didn't they may just forget to finish and miss the gala."

Heading back downstairs we headed back to the room we left the girls in. "Hey yall almost ready in there? We should be heading to the train soon."

I could hear Rarity's voice call out in response, "Just one second dear, just finishing up Twilights hair and then we are all done.

"Well spike we have 5 minutes left so let's just relax for a few more."

Sure enough five minutes later hoofs on the hardwood floor could be heard coming into the waiting room spike and I were in. looking up at the group my jaw dropped at the sight before me. Gone were the six friends I had made here and in their places were beautiful ponies that looked like they belonged in a palace instead of ponyville.

"Wow, your all stunning." And I wasn't lying.

All of them were in dresses that seemed to just belong on them and fit their personalities.

Rainbow Dash was wearing a dress that faded the colors of the rainbow matching her hair, trimming the base of it was what looked like literally a border of clouds. On her head rested was what looked similar to an ancient roman civic crown woven from leaves, but it was cast in gold. Her front legs were adorned with golden wrapped sandals. And her hair had been lightly altered it still resembled her old hair but had been shifted from wild to a more tame look. Instead of appearing so spike it was more curved and slightly wavy. All in all she looked like she belonged as royalty in an ancient Greek coliseum and it fit perfectly.

Fluttershy looked like a living embodiment of nature. Her dress appeared to be what looked like a long skirt that looked almost like it was made from a gigantic leaf, adorned by blue and white flowers and a soft blue ribbon. Around her neck was a floral collar with a large blue flower on the front, and a matching smaller blue flower was tucked behind her ear. Her hair had been done to highlight all the natural curls it had, looking very similar to how it actually had started off as, but it was adorned with small flowers. And was wearing sandals that were the same green as her dress and wrapped with what appeared to be small vines. It was a natural looking dress that just seemed to pull out all of Fluttershy's inner gentleness and love for nature.

Pinkies dress seemed to capture here love of candy sure enough and was definitely as different from all the rest of the dresses as pinkie pie was from every other pony. It started with a striped blue and white vest with a fluffy fur like collar and a pink bow in the front. From the back of the vest were several layered ruffled layers of light and dark pink cloth and then a large white skirt with the patterns of candy corn and lollipops on it. From the back of the skirt came a pink dome that looked similar to old style ballroom gowns. She was wearing small pink slippers on all her feet that had small blue bows on all of them. Her hair looked almost unchanged other than it was a lot less crazy and spontaneous looking, like they had completely straightened it and styled it cleanly back into her normal look. And the last piece was a small old fashioned looking white and blue ladies hat that had another small bow on it. All in all it was very pinkie pie and despite its oddity looked fantastic on her.

Applejacks ensemble almost couldn't be considered a dress but then again she isn't really the type of pony to be caught in a dress. It seemed like a very appropriate dress outfit for the cowgirl in her though. It started with a green kerchief around her neck and a Texan style bola tie with an apple as the fastener. The dress itself looked almost like only what I could describe as a dress saddle. It was the same design but smaller and obviously decorative instead of real. And from behind that a simple green cloth wrapped around her back end with brown tassels coming off the bottom. And adorned by small apple markings. On her front hooves were green cowboy boots with a red and white line across the top and marked on the sides by apples. Her mane and tail had been styled into a large braid. And she wore her trademark cowboy hat but embroidered with apples.

Twilights made him stop in his tracks, it was so perfect and so beautiful yet so simple and so her. It was a royal midnight blue, covering her entire back half just letting her rear hooves poke out the bottom. Along the bottom was a light blue patch decorated by stars drifting upwards. Around her midsection was a light blue piece of fabric almost in the shape of a tiny saddle. In the section where it connected with the back portion of the dress were several more star ornaments. And from the front it led into a magnificent high neck wrap with a tall collar. And fastened in the front by one brilliant star. Her hair remained almost untouched just straightened and perfected in its original style. The lower part of her man however had been bundled up and tucked down into her collar hiding most of it from view. And last she wore a set of what looked almost like a royal pair crystal sandals on all hooves with the front pair being slightly larger and accented with more stars. It was simply magnificent.

And last was Rarity, her dress while the others were more subtle but magnified all the ponies' inner selves. Hers was like what you would expect a princess to wear to her wedding. It was a brilliant snow white, layered repeatedly down her entire body. There were probably a dozen layers all trimmed with small gemstones around the edges. Down the center of the back was a stripe of larger blue diamond's almost identical to her cutie mark. The front of the dress traveled about halfway up her neck and was made of a fine lace pattern with a large blue diamond centered on the chest. She wore a regal looking tiara upon her head with 6 gems around it each one a different color matching one of the six ponies. And on her front hooves were a pair of Crystal slippers similar to twilights but without the stars. She looked every bit royalty as Celestia at that moment.

I just sat there for what seemed like hours but in reality was probably only a minute just staring in amazement at each and every pony. "You all look so fantastic I can barely believe it Applejack your dress suits you perfectly, fitting exactly to the inner country girl you are while bringing out your beauty. Pinkie that dress just seems to embody the joyful and random spirit you are. Fluttershy you look so graceful and beautiful like the most wonderful view in nature. Rainbow, you look like a magnificent Pony not only as someone looking great but as someone who just screams Number one Athlete and with that look everyone can see that it's true. Twilight I don't even know what to say, it's beautiful and words can barely describe it it's like combining all your natural beauty with the night sky itself. And Rarity I daresay that even the Princess will be jealous of you wearing that it is so gorgeous.

Their reactions to my praise could clearly be seen. All of them blushing slightly and reacting differently. Fluttershy hiding behind her mane and with a barely audible whisper I heard thank you. Pinkie, well was spouting so many thaught I couldn't keep track. Applejack just maintained a modest posture while saying "Aww thanks sugercube." Dash had made a heroic pose while stating "Heck yeah I'm number one and now they'll all see it." Twilight seemed to suddenly be shy and nervous as she quietly and modestly said "Thank you very much Derick I'm glad you like it." Rarity eyes were shining at my comparison "OH darling is it really that good? I had a little spare time so I just whipped it up."

A few moments later the tables seemed to flip as they all took notice of my attire. Soon all attention was on me as I was asked to stand up and turn around and display all the parts of it.

"Dang that's a mighty fine outfit you're sporting."

"Yea like oh my gosh everyone is going to be like oh my gosh look at that, and then those people are going to be like all oh my gosh he looks so…."

"You look very handsome and uh nice, well more than nice but…"

"I gotta say I'm impressed, although if it's still not as awesome as me, maybe if it was 20% cooler than it might be a close tie."

Twilight and rarity both stayed quiet letting their friends look it over since they had both seen it already or had been the one to make it.

"Yeah girls, I like it too, and I'm very proud to be sporting rarity's colors at the gala since she made me this wonderful outfit, but if we don't hurry up we will miss the train and then it will all be for naught."

With that said everyone seemed to notice the time and we all quickly made our way to the train station.

We boarded the train without a hassle and all got settled into one of the compartments.

"So I've never been up to canterlot before is it a long ride?"

Twilight who sat next to me answered. "It's about an hour long so it's not that bad. "Rarity spoke up from across the cabin. "So Derick Darling what are your plans for the Gala?"

I had to sit and think about it for a moment. "I honestly have no clue, I've never been to it like you all have. And I don't know a lot about pony culture outside of ponyville, so I'm probably just going to wing it and find something to do."

"Well Darling you simply must come find me sometime. I would absolutely love to introduce you to some ponies."

"And don't ferget to stop by my stand sometime iffin you go and get hungry."

"For sure, I'm curious to see what kind of stuff you made for the gala."

"Well I guess you'll just have to come by and find out now wontcha."

The rest of the train ride passed by quickly with friendly chat in the train. Just after an hour from boarding we had arrived and pulled into the canterlot station.

Twilight hopped up from her seat, "Alright girls should we head over to the palace?"

A wave of nods and agreements passed around us and we were soon traveling through canterlot streets towards the palace. I looked around taking in the scenery.

It was a truly impressive city, tall buildings all around designed with great architecture. And many ponies littering the streets, a large portion were dressed up in clothing that obviously displayed that they would be attending the gala later this evening as well.

Although unsurprisingly almost anyone who glanced at our group held their stares extra-long when they looked at me. I felt like I was the main attraction at a circus with all the stares and strange looks I was getting. But then again I had expected this so I just smiled and waved as they say.

Twenty minutes after leaving the train we found our way to the palaces main gate. And for the first time I was able to take in the castle in all its glory.

It was a truly giant and glorious building, built straight off the side of the mountain with towers spanning the sky hundreds of feet tall. The front looked like a giant gathering hall which had currently been decorated to accommodate the gala. It was a huge roughly 150 yards long by 50 yards wide and at least 15 feet high. Inside were all sorts of ponies socializing and dancing to a live orchestra inside. Nearby was a garden area that was also set up with tables all over and had many groups of ponies around.

At the front of the entrance hall stood the one and Only Princess Celestia. She wore her regular regal regalia but in addition had a long white flowing dress that was of a simple design but with golden patterns down the back. But with her natural beauty and grace any pony would be hard pressed to even attempt to compare themselves to her.

But at her side was a pony I did not recognize but still stood out. She stood taller than the average pony but still about a head shorter than Celestia. Appearance wise she was almost a polar opposite to the princess of the sun, where here coat was a dark midnight blue. Here mane seemed to billow ethereally in the wind similar to Celestia's as well, but where Celestia was reminiscent of the day sky the other ponies was like the starry night. And just to further prove the difference where Celestia's cutie mark was a radiant sun the other ponies was a crescent moon. The main reason she had drawn my eye though was she was the only other pony I had seen other than Celestia to possess both a horn and wings.

"Hey twilight who is the pony with Celestia? I have never seen another pony with both a horn and wings before."

She looked over to where I had pointed before quickly responding. "Oh that is princess Luna Celestia's younger sister. She rules the night sky and raises and lowers the moon whereas Celestia is the princess of the day and controls the sun."

"Huh Celestia's sister… WAIT A SECOND! Don't you think it was worth mentioning that Celestia had a sister and there was another ruling princess?"

Twilight stepped back a little ashamed because of the truth of my remark. "I'm sorry Luna still doesn't have a very active rule in governing Equestria so her name isn't nearly as common as Celestia's. Up until a little over a year ago she wasn't even in Equestria due to events over a thousand years ago. Although if I were you and I talked to her I wouldn't bring them up."

"Fine but if you don't mind could you tell me about it after the gala?"

"Of course I will. But for now how about we go say hello and you can introduce yourself."

"Just go introduce ourselves? You make it sound so easy to just approach them casually like they weren't the rulers of the country."

Twilight just got a little smug look on her face for a second before answering. "Wellbeing the Princesses prized protégé has some benefits after all don't you know."

"Well ok then sounds good let's go say hello." But looking around I noticed it was just Twilight and myself by now. She seemed to notice me looking around for them

"They all went to enjoy the party a few minutes ago, you must have been really interested in Princess Luna to have missed them." She giggled to herself while teasing me.

"Oh shush let's go meet some royalty."

Twilight led the way and when we got closer to the two princesses Celestia noticed us and immediately waved her hoof towards us in a kind and loving way like I had seen her do to many other ponies in the last minute. 'She must really love all of her subjects her love for every pony must know no bound.'

Arriving twilight ran over to Celestia. "Princess Celestia!" she called out in a voice of adoration one would use for someone very close to them.

The princess smiled back to her "Ahh twilight how wonderful it is to see my precious student. And I see you have brought Derick along with you, a pleasure to see you again. I hope life in ponyville has been enjoyable for you so far."

I gave a small bow to the princess before answering. "Yes it is a wonderful town filled with great ponies like twilight and her friends. I must thank you for allowing me to spend my time there."

The princess gave a gentle chuckle at my answer. "I'm pleased to hear that, but you do not need to address me in such a manor. Any friend of twilights is a friend of mine, and I do consider us friends already from the day we met. You left quite an impression on my young Derick. Oh but where are my manners, Luna Come say hello."

The dark princess bid farewell and turned from the guest she was currently greeting. Approaching the group she instantly locked eyes with Derick. "Ahh you are the human I heard about from Celestia, we are pleased to meet you. I must say I did not believe you Celestia when you declared how powerful this human's draw to magic is, I can feel him absorbing magic around him at a truly astounding rate."

She can feel it too? So only the princesses have been able to feel it huh I wonder why, at least I'm pretty sure only they can no unicorn has pointed it out yet.

"The pleasure is all mine Princess Luna" I stated back with a small bow. "With all due respect may I ask a question? Only you two princesses have felt my effect on magic how come no unicorns have pointed it out or felt it?"

Celestia chose to answer the question. "Well Alicorn's are much more intone with natural magic than regular unicorns. And while they all project some magic that would be drawn to you it is normally so miniscule they themselves don't feel the magic. My sister and I on the other hand have access to roughly five hundred times more magic than a standard unicorn. So simply put they just don't radiate enough magic to feel it as fully as we can."

'Made sense to me I guess.' "Thank you I've been curious about that. So are you both enjoying the gala?"

Once again Celestia chose to answer as Luna turned to greet another group of guests arriving. "It is a delightful evening, and I always relish the chance to see all of my little ponies." She glanced over at her sister and a small look of sorrow crossed her face. "However, Luna is still adjusting back to royal duties. And many ponies are still adjusting to her presence and she has a hard time making friends."

"I understand that, especially due to her position. Most people would be intimidated just to talk to royalty. Which is really a shame since you are honestly one of the nicest kindest and loving beings I have ever met, and I'm sure your sister is great inside as well. But most people will never see it due to a crown blocking their view."

Celestia listened to my words nodding at the truth of my words before looking back at her sister and then back to Twilight and I. "Hmm, I believe you are right. But you do not seem to be so easily intimidated by her or my title."

"With all due respect your majesty I honor and respect both of you but I can tell that neither one of you are so caught up in your title that you don't want to be seen as ponies as well as princesses. I will kneel and bow to you all day if you ask but I just figure that you would enjoy to just have a conversation with a friend instead of worry over titles."

Celestia's smile grew slightly at that answer before a little mischievous look appeared on her face. "Hmm is that so? Well then I think I have a little idea, Luna dear could you come over again?" Luna bidding farewell to the latest group of newcomers turned and approached them again.

"Yes Sister?"

"I think you have earned a little break, why don't you go with Derick here and show him around the Gala."

She seemed to be confused by the statement. "But aren't we expected to do our duties and greet the guests?"

Celestia just sighed a bit at the formal answer. "Sometimes even we deserve a little fun dear sister, and besides I'm sure Twilight would love to fill in and greet ponies with me for a half hour."

The smile on twilights face deemed an answer not necessary.

Luna on the other hand started to voice a declination but was cut off by Celestia. "Sister it is fine, you aren't neglecting any duties. You are a pony just like everyone else myself included and deserve a little bit of fun. Now go on enjoy some of the gala." Fanning out her wings she used one to literally start to push Luna away and towards the rest of the party.

Taking my cue I followed along with the princess of the night. It was kind of nice to walk next to her. With her sister towering over 7 feet tall and Luna being around a head shorter than Celestia she was roughly the same height as me. It would be the first time since coming here I could have a face to face conversation without looking down or up.

"So Princess Luna, have you enjoyed the gala so far?"

Watching her she seemed to move with royal grace like Celestia but was stiff and withdrawn with her movements. Like she was nervous, and every time I noticed a pony glance in her direction she smiled back but I could see hesitation in her face. Definitely nervous and uneasy, it must have something to do with her situation twilight said she would tell me about.

"Yes we have enjoyed it until now, but we haven't left Celestia's side yet."

She spoke with ease like any royalty would be expected to but I could hear an undertone to it. It sounded like she was almost scared but covering it up with her royal persona.

"You seem to enjoy being by your sister's side, do you two spend a lot of time together?"

It seemed like an innocent enough question to me but it seemed to make Luna stiffen just a bit.

"We do spend time together but due to our royal duty not as often as we used to before… well a very long time ago."

By now we had walked around the outside of the main gathering and into the castle gardens. There was still the odd pony or two every now and then but much more secluded overall. And soon found a small balcony over the cliff away from the rest of the event.

"That's a shame but then again something as important is royal duty is probably pretty hard to make time around. I'm sure she means the best though and would like to spend more time with you. I mean who wouldn't want to hang out with the princess of the moon." I spoke as I leaned against a railing admiring the moon itself as I spoke.

She looked over at me before back up at the moon as well. And with barely a barely audible whisper I heard her. "Not as many as you would think" and a look of sadness crossed her face.

Shit was it something I said? Dammit twilight throw me I with a princess with a very obvious recent event weighing on her and don't tell me anything about it. Anything could be dangerous to say and I have no idea what.

Pretending I didn't hear her I tried to change to something I hoped would cheer her up. Or at least show I meant no harm by anything I accidentally said.

"So from the stories I've herd your sister created the sun and the daytime sky. So did you create the moon and stars?"

She just shook her head. "Not quite, long ago this planet had very severe weather patterns, we tamed the sun and moon to create a more hospitable world for everyone. Although we do control the sky's and stars respectfully."

It was nice talking to Luna. And she hadn't reacted poorly directly towards my casual speech yet. And in the last few minutes had even relaxed a little. It must truly be terrible to have everyone see you so high and mighty that they won't even have a regular conversation with you regardless of the topic. Yeah she was telling a story about taming a celestial body but it was a friendly conversation. So I figured I may as well just enjoy the conversation maybe even risk a couple of things to say that might help cheer the slightly depressed princess up. On the flipside though I don't want to seem like I'm flirting with royalty and end up with hoofs in places they shouldn't be in a painful way. Oh well no risk no reward.

Looking back at the princess I gave a genuine friendly smile. "Well thank you Luna, for the beautiful night, people may look to the day for more of their lives but I always had a special place for the night in my heart."

She seemed a little awestruck and confused at my words at first, then several emotions flashed across her face. Embarrassment, awkwardness, anger, confusion and finally it settled on curiosity.

"Why? The day is when everyone can go about their lives, crops grow in the sun and fillies play in the day. Most people treat the night for little more than sleeping."

She seemed hurt by the very words she spoke and suddenly a couple things made sense.

She felt neglected, everybody praised the sun but slept through the moons cycle. I could definitely sympathize where she was coming from.

"Well it is true that most sleep through the night but it's special to me for many reasons. Both the sun and moon are important for different reasons as well. True crops grow and absorb the sunlight for energy in the day but without the soothing night the moon provides they would burn and shrivel and wither away. And sure many fillies play in the day but they need the moons loving night to rest and relax. And I'm sure if this world is like my own you can't have a campfire with smores in the daytime. So there are special events that can only take place at night.

And as for me personally I have always felt more comfortable with the moon over my head than the sun. Most of the time at night I'm alone and just have the moon to watch over me. It gives me peace at night as if it was a guardian watching over me. Plus much of the world's beauty in the daytime is even more grand at night, you just have to search for it. And while most people sleep at night they can never experience it. It's like a treasure tucked away for those who dare to search and once they have found it they fall in love with it. Sure most don't know about it yet but there is many grand and wondrous things that the night holds just waiting to be discovered which just one more reason I love the night is. It's like an adventure in an already discovered world, there is still things to be found sights to see places to go. A waterfall in the woods is two completely different things come day and night in the day it's a just pretty scenery. But at night it's a hidden glade of wonder, hidden from the world. A true treasure hidden in plain sight."

Luna sat and listened to my speech face as plain as stone not betraying a single emotion till I ended. Towards the end I noticed she hadn't reacted and wondered if I had maybe gone a bit overboard or something, but hey I truly loved the night and wanted to make sure she knew it. If I ruled the night I would want at least a little recognition for it, it must hurt to be so ignored for such a gift that you give every day.

But when I finished a single tear fell from her left eye. I didn't know how to react to it. So I figured I would just wait until she made the next move. Letting her have her moment I turned my direction back to the moon leaving her in the private world of her own thaught.

We stood that way side by side for a few minutes before I felt a set of hooves embrace me. Figuring when in roam I embraced the princess of the night back.

We stayed that way for probably a good thirty seconds before she backed off. Looking at her face I could see multiple wet paths streaking her cheeks. If it wasn't for the hug I would be worried right now at making a princess cry.

"We are sorry, it's not like us to do anything like this. But nobody has ever even thanked me for the night before. And your praise and adoration of my night just… it just… I'm sorry it's been a long time since I felt happy like that." It was then I could see a bit of red creep into her face from embarrassment.

"Luna I'm sorry, you give a perfect gift to the world every day that apparently nobody recognizes. Although considering how wonderful of a pony that your sister is I'm honestly not that surprised most flock to her. But you are every bit as special, and I am truly glad and honored I could spend this time with you. And I believe that many more would share my same view they just have yet to see past the sun to the beauty underneath but that can be changed."

Thankfully she ignored every part of that which could be considered an insult and almost shyly but with hope squeaked out "How" it reminded me of the way a child talked in anticipation to Christmas. It was so innocent and pure coming from a pony with so much responsibility. Just one more reminder that despite their Burdon princesses or not they were still ponies just like everyone else.

"Well show the people err ponies some of the things they are missing. I know the sun has its own day to be praised with the summer sun celebration but I haven't even seen one pony go camping. I mean how would people know the night is great if they have never even sat next to a campfire with a smores telling ghost stories. We used to do that at least once a month as I grew up."

The princess looked at me with a bit of innocent confusion for a moment. "Uhh what's a smore?"

My jaw literally dropped at the comment before I came up with an idea. "Luna I have two questions, does the palace have a kitchen with chocolate marshmallows and graham crackers? And two would the gala miss us if we visited them for fifteen minutes?"

Curiosity and intrigue from my response seemed to get the better of her as a devious look appeared on her face. "Oh I think Celestia can manage for a little longer."

Three minutes later we found our way to the kitchens which were empty considering the entire kitchen staff had relocated outdoors to cater the event.

Luna and I both scoured the pantry looking for the items I had requested. Luna had found a chocolate bar and a bag of tiny marshmallows like what people use for hot cocoa. And I had found a box of graham crackers. Looking at the marshmallows I had an idea to make the small sugar balls work. Another minute of searching and we had found a pack of shishkabob skewers and I had 6 of them with 6 on each in my hand and over an open flame from a stove. Telling her to create the sandwich part with chocolate and cracker she quickly did so with her magic. A minute later the mallows were golden brown.

"Alright let's see how this works normally I would just use one giant marshmallow but this should do just fine." I said as I set the mallows down on top of the chocolate before asking her to press the next cracker down.

When she did I pulled the skewers out and tossed them into the sink nearby.

"And that is how you make a smore. Although normally they are done over a campfire in the woods. Give it a taste I'm sure you'll like it." I said gesturing to the finished treat

Picking it up in a midnight blue glow it floated over and she took a small bite of it. Her eyes shot wide open before a look of bliss came on her face. In a matter of seconds the rest of the treat disappeared.

Snapping out of the moment the princess looked at me before flashing red again and giving off an embarrassed laugh and smile showing the sticky marshmallow covering her sparkling white teeth.

Regaining her poise she spoke out. "That was delicious I wonder why we have never heard of those before."

I just shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know they were pretty common where I'm from, and even better yet they are a treat almost strictly restricted to night time. Maybe we could organize a campout one night and make a real smore, well that is if you wouldn't mind hanging out with me again." I let out a friendly chuckle and smiled at her.

"YES" she almost shouted out before catching herself. "I mean I would enjoy that, and I am looking forward to more of these treats. And I'm sure if I asked Celestia for one night off she would make it work, she is always talking about friendship with her student and has told me about it hoping I would make some. But it's hard to find people who don't either look at me in fear or bow immediately at seeing my crown. But your different you treated me like a real pony the moment we met." She suddenly stopped talking getting embarrassed again realizing how fast she was speaking. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to ramble. It's just I haven't found someone other than Celestia I feel so comfortable around. Thank you for this time but I must get back to Celestia and greet the rest of the guests."

Nodding back at her excuse we both walked and chatted till we arrived back at the main entrance where Celestia was greeting guests.

Celestia instantly noticed the genuine smile on Luna's face as we walked towards her and grew a warm smile of her own at the sight.

We said our casual goodbyes and as I turned to leave I heard Luna call out. "Derick"

Turning around I gave a small bow. "Yes Princess" I said with a wink at her.

Keeping her royal tone in front of the other guests she called out. "If you have time I would appreciate it if you could come say farewell before you depart from the gala."

Nodding back in a gentlemanly way I responded, "I believe I could find the time my lady." And with one smaller bow I turned and left.

**Well this chapter is running a bit longer than planned so I'm cutting it into two maybe three parts. And I'm sorry it took a while to upload life is kind of crazy right now. Moving tends to add some excitement especially when your homeless but already have a lease on a house but it isn't available till next month and you're trying to find places to stay till then etc. etc. but enough of my bitching.**

**Please review if you enjoyed or didn't enjoy the chapter and let me know your thaught.**


	7. The Gala pt2

After departing from the Two Princesses I made my way back to the party hoping to find one of my friends.

I also wanted to see more of the gala other than the main outdoor area and gardens, the castle grounds were massive and many walkways through gardens and clearings harboring groups of ponies of different social niches. One of witch caught his fascination was what he dubbed a 'gentle Stallions' group seeing how it was filled with ponies in gentleman style silk robes that kind of reminded him of the smoking jacket that a certain man from earth wore that led a mansion full of supermodels for a magazine, several featuring pipes and glasses of wine. One such pony even featured a monocle on his left eye and was wearing a jacket cut to show his own cutie mark featuring a glass of wine in front of a fireplace.

Not long after he found a small line of ponies in front of what appeared to be a vender stand, featuring a large painted apple sign.

Letting the group of pony's receive their items he made his way to the orange mare working the stand.

"Howdy AJ how is business going, I heard you were taking a new approach this year."

Applejack gave a semi victorious smile at me before replying. "Business is doing good partner, my new treats seem to be doing the trick this year."

Smelling the baked goods off her stand he quickly realized he was a bit hungry. Seeing as he hadn't eaten anything other than a small smore with Luna in hours. "Well if you're so popular maybe I should give one of them a try. What kinds of things do you have?"

Reaching into the cart she pulled out a small apple pie. "I reckon knowing what ya like this should suit yer fancy, its Granny Smiths prized recipe. Most of the other treats ah prepared are more focused on looking fancy to appeal to all the fancier ponies here."

Thinking back on Granny Smiths cooking the times he had joined them for dinner he was sold. "I'll take it" grabbing it off the counter and threw a silver bit down.

She swept the bit off the table and tucked it into her hat pulling out a few regular copper bits.

"Keep the change AJ, if this is really your Granny's recipe it's well worth it." I knew the money went to her fixing up sweet apple acres so he always made it a habit to tip well when he bought from her.

Humbly accepting she nodded in thanks and tucked them back up in her hat. Before she could respond a blue Pegasus stallion in a blue jumpsuit with gold lightning patterns on it. Followed by Rainbow Dash. Noticing the goggles I assumed this must be the uniform of the wonder bolts she idolized.

Trotting up to the stand the blue stallion called out to Applejack. "Oh man your back this year sweet, do you have any more pies like last time? I'm starving and that pie was amazing."

Applejack seemed to remember this pony as she instantly brought a large apple pie out of the cart. "Ah figured ya would be coming back after your show like last time. So I thaught you seemed like the pony who would want this. Mah granny's own private recipe. Only brought two with me for specific customers."

Her comment at the end made me chuckle a bit. She knew what an athletic man like in a treat knowing that both myself and this stallion would come along. And from the looks of it he was definitely interested in the pie he almost started drooling staring at it for a few seconds.

Snapping out of it he quickly threw a silver bit on the counter excitedly saying, "I'll take it!"

'I think I'm looking at a Pegasus version of myself' I laughed to myself at my joke.

Dash took the moment to walk over by me. "Derick I want you to meet my friend Soarin member of the most awesome flying squad ever!"

The stallion turned over from his pie a few crumbs already on his muzzle. "Hey RJ here was telling us about ya, Nice to meetcha. I'd stay to chat but this pie is just calling me, I'll try an find ya later to chat you sound like a pretty rad guy." He quickly turned to find a place sit and eat.

Dash followed after him calling back. "I'll catch up with you guys later."

Deciding to find my own place to eat I waved goodbye to AJ calling back id talk to her later and wishing her good luck.

Finding a small bench I sat and enjoyed my own pie. Granny Smiths pie was the best he had ever had, so he always made sure to enjoy it when he could.

After finishing up I decided to head on out and see what else I could find. After a few minutes of wandering he heard rarity's voice. "Oh Derick darling how nice to see you, you simply must come meet some ponies."

She was standing in a group of ponies who looked like stereotypical high class snobs. The unicorn stallion in front was large by normal standers, standing a full head taller than most ponies. He wore a tuxedo jacket and bowtie. His hair was light blue and fixed in a wavy style. He featured a monocle on his left eye and a small pencil mustache. On his flank was a mark of three crowns.

Standing very close to him was a beautiful tall white unicorn mare slightly shorter than the large stallion. She had a very soft light pink mane and three fleur de lis markings on her flank.

Strolling up to rarity she quickly introduced me. "Derick I would like you to meet one of the most important ponies in canterlot. Fancypants this is my good friend Derick."

Nodding back to the fancy stallion I spoke first. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Quite politely the large gentle stallion responded. "Yes indeed always a pleasure to meet one of rarity's esteemed friends. And might I say that is a wonderful ensemble you are wearing. No doubt the work of miss rarity herself."

I nodded to the stallion. "Indeed it is one of my treasured gifts from her and I wear it with pride."

At my comment rarity's face seemed to beam with pride before she burst out. "Oh dear it was nothing, I would never let one of my friends show to the gala without something magnificent to wear."

The large stallion chuckled to himself. "Well my dear I do believe you succeeded. I hate to be rude though but I must depart for the time being I have several other ponies I must meet with tonight. I do hope we run into each other again to say farewell before we depart though." And the large stallion and his small pose turned and left with a farewell.

Turning back to rarity I gave a small gentlemanly bow to her before asking, "My lady I do believe if you do not have somewhere else to be I owe you a dance?"

"Well you do seem to fit the prince charming description how could I possibly refuse." and we both departed to the dancehall inside the castle.

Inside we danced slowly to the music playing from the orchestra. Rarity was surprisingly graceful while only on her rear hoofs to accommodate my height although I did use my strength to easily help her maintain balance.

"Now this is the prince charming treatment I could get used to."

"I thaught you would steer clear of any type of prince from what I heard about last year." I teased due to her remark.

A look of disgust shot over rarity's face. "Well dear you may be far from royal but you are a million times the gentleman and far more noble than a certain prince here. And if everything goes perfectly we won't see hide nor hair of a certain prince."

Pretty soon into a quicker pace dance I spun rarity around like a ballerina and ducked her backwards. As I lifted her up a small applause broke out around us. Looking around it appeared that a small ring of ponies had circled around watching us dance, probably due to me being the odd one out at the party drawing attention. Standing back up I gave a small bow back to the audience as they dispersed back to their own dancing.

Turning back to rarity I offered my hand out for another dance but the most pompous voice spoke out.

"Ahh the wench decided to return this year. However you managed to receive another invite is beyond me."

Judging from where the voice came from and who it was directed at it didn't take long to connect the dots. It was spoken to myself and rarity and since I had never attended that only left one person who it could be referencing. And my blood absolutely boiled. Keeping myself composed so not to make a scene I looked at rarity and saw a stare that would freeze hell over. It was a combined look of disgust and anger and from the descriptions I've herd of a certain someone I knew who would be standing behind me.

Slowly turning I saw a large white unicorn with long wavy blonde hair. He was wearing a full body white tuxedo with a rose on the collar. He had a look to him that just screamed out 'look at me I'm more important than you.'

"Ahh you must be Prince Blueblood, I've herd so much about you, I'm sorry I would offer to shake my hands but I don't particularly take pleasure is shaking hands with trash. Now if you'll excuse me I have a beautiful lady waiting to dance." And I turned back to rarity but not before catching a look of pure anger from the white stallion. Rarity's face was one of pure shock as I offered my hand out for her again.

But before I could claim her hoof and lead her off I felt my entire backside get splashed with liquid before the most painfully irritating voice I've ever heard shrieked out.

"HOW DARE YOU! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? I COULD HAVE YOU EXECUTED AT THE BLINK OF AN EYE FOR SUCH DISRESPECT. I AM A NOBLE PRINCE HOW DARE YOU DISRESPECT ME LIKE THAT!"

My anger was at such a boiling point now. I had barely herd one word the pissy prince was yelling. Instead I had taken the moment to remove my lovely cape to inspect the wetness. It had an enormous red stain covering the entire cloth from the glass of punch the prince had been holding seconds earlier.

Rarity noticed it too and her eyes erupted into rage. But right before she could erupt into a rant about the clothing she had made I pressed a finger to her lips urging her to stay quiet.

Turning back to the object of disgust I calmly stared him down pure anger radiating from my otherwise calm form. The so called noble unicorn visibly shuddered and backed a small step away seeing my rage.

Speaking in a calm and even tone I slowly spoke. "Now sir, understand three things. First I don't give a royal shit who you are or what you could so called have done to me. Second you will be receiving a cleaning bill for my attire. And third unless you want my true wrath you will apologize to Rarity, both for ruining something she worked hard on and especially for the name that would only be used by an undignified shit like you that you called her."

My direct tone and lack of fear unsettled the large unicorn. Slowly backing away before a fire lit back up in his eyes as his self-importance kicked back in. and the shrieking banshee voice returned. "NEVER HAVE I BEEN SO DISRESPECTED. Both yourself and your little whore are in over your heads I should have you ar." But he never finished speaking as he suddenly had to clutch his throat trying to force air back into it as I pulled my fist back. From where I had let out a swift jab.

Stepping forward I pressed my finger back into his nose as I hissed in anger. "NOBODY WILL EVER CALL MY FRIENDS NAMES LIKE THOSE. IF YOU HAVE A SHRED OF DIGNITY LEFT YOU WILL ACT LIKE A PROPER MAN AND LEAVE WITH ANY OF YOUR DIGNITY LEFT. IF NOT THEN I CHALLENGE YOU TO BACK UP YOUR WORDS WITH ACTIONS LIKE A REAL MAN."

Stepping back I gave him a moment to regain his composure before he called over a set of guards who had rushed forward after my strike. Hissing out in a blood thirsty voice he called to the guards. "Fetch the dueling weaponry if this trash wants to face me like a man then he will die like a dog." He turned and left to the grounds immediately after as another pair of guards approached me and escorted myself to the grounds to where our apparent 'duel' would take place. Rarity following right by my side the entire time.

"Darling I'm so sorry of this trouble I don't want you to get hurt, won't you just back out I would never think less of you. Blueblood is notoriously vicious in duels and I would never let myself live it down if you got hurt."

Leaning down I embraced Rarity warmly as I responded. "I'm sorry Rarity this is something I must do, I will never let someone disgrace you like that. And don't worry I am more than confident I will be able to handle things." I embraced her one more time as I stood and faced the royal asshole.

"Rules?" I called out to him.

Yelling back in an almost psychotic tone he replied. "First one dead loses. And since this is a gentleman's duel there will be no repercussions upon the victor."

Hearing the rules I stood tall nodding back to him. Tensing my muscles up making my veins pop trying to increase my size just to scare that prick shitless. I could feel my muscles pressing the fabric outwards as I slowly removed my dress shirt revealing the skintight undershirt.

Across the field taking in my appearance the prince slowly started to grow a nervous look. I could only imagine he was pissing himself staring at my quite modestly if I do say so myself brick shithouse build.

Yelling out so every pony that could gather could clearly hear my words. "I accept your challenge, never will I allow such a rude stallion such as yourself get away with calling an innocent woman a wench or whore again. And I will act as my own hand of justice for these crimes against common decency."

Hearing my accusing words towards the prince many grew nasty looks towards the noble. But the effect was soon lost as the two guards that blueblood had sent away returned with a large table balanced between the two. Weaponry of all sorts were displayed across the surface.

As the snob approached to gather his weaponry I noticed Celestia and Luna themselves approach our area seemingly aware of what was taking place they both stood on the sides and remained silent as the watched. More than likely to maintain their regal personas in the eyes of so many they didn't break character or seem to take sides only stand as silent spectators.

Looking over at them I noticed the sun princess focused without emotion betraying her thaught. But glancing at Luna I saw her staring at me with a nervous look on her face. I winked back to her before stepping forward to the weapons table.

Looking at blueblood I realized why he was referred to as ruthless. Not only did he have a small rapier in his hoof but three more floating around him encased in magical fields.

Glancing at the weapons table I skimmed over the weapons approaching I strode right past the weapons section of the table to where there were several small miscellaneous items. Picking up nothing but a what looked like a small leather vambrace made for a hoof and roll of heavy duty tape I walked back to the weapons using a small knife to cut the vambrace into two leather strips.

Wrapping the leather around my palms and knuckles I used the tape the wrap them heavily holding them firmly in place.

"This is all I require to teach this pesky noble shit his place." I called out to the guards letting them know I had finished.

Almost every pony princesses included had disbelieving looks on their faces at my lack of weaponry. I could even hear outraged yells coming from the sidelines, glancing over I saw my group of friends yelling at me I couldn't hear what exactly there saying but I did catch 'freaking idiot' from rainbow dash directed at me.

Ignoring them I strode forward with confidence staring at the prince and his four narrow blades.

They were all rapiers and I knew exactly how they would be used. They had very small blades along the sides not very well suited to cutting but excelled in thrusting. And I quickly ran over a few plans in my head before I heard Celestia call out.

"Are both duelists prepared?"

I simply nodded to her remaining silent.

Blueblood however almost maniacally screamed out. "YES"

Then with the first hint of emotion betraying her Celestia looked at me with a worried look as a small tear welled under her eye dripped. Probably from having to watch her own subjects fight. "Then begin."

Instantly all three rapiers that were controlled by magic shot forward directly at me. They were flying straight with no variations. Guided by force instead of logic.

Quickly stepping forward straight into the rush I twisted right as they arrived letting all three sail right past me as I spun grabbing the handles of two as the past. Finishing my complete rotation I let loose on both blades letting them sail through the air and embedding themselves into a tree nearby.

A hiss through the wind of a blade cutting air I stepped to the side quickly and in a flash had grasped the third sword by the blade letting it cut into the leather on my palms. Staring at blueblood I grasped the blade with both hands and slowly bent the metal until a loud *SNAP* echoed out. Before letting both halves of the blade drop.

Blueblood without missing a beat though let out a scream as he charged at me thrusting his last blade directly towards my heart. I quickly brushed it sideways with my left hand letting my fingers close around the blade, lashing out with my right hand it connected with the base of the blade snapping it off like a twig. Not giving him a moment to recover I snapped my elbow back into the side of his face as I spun and planted my foot directly into his chest throwing him back a solid five feet.

Grasping the broken blade in my hand I charged forwards and slammed it down directly towards the stallions head. As a huge gasp from the crowd at my apparent brutality. Standing up I stared down at the gasping stallion that was staring with wide eyes at the blade that had pierced the ground a mere inch from his eye.

Turning I walked away from my defeated opponent yelling out at the crowd. "I am not a coward like he is and I will not end another's life over a petty squabble. Hopefully this will teach him some manners regarding mares though. However as I finished speaking I saw a brilliant light shining from behind me, turning I saw Bluebloods horn glowing with a massive amount of energy his face pure anger and bloodlust as he screamed out. Before I could even scream out a solid beam of light shot from his horn directly into my chest.

At first it felt like nothing, my shock covering all feeling, but after a split second a burning sear erupted through my entire chest. I couldn't help but scream out in pain as it felt like I was on fire. I could feel my stomach and legs grow wet from blood and almost as quickly as it appeared the light vanished. I dropped to my knee as I grasped my chest and felt myself dying. Staring down for the first time I choked at the sight. In the exact center of my chest was a 6 inch wide burnt hole straight through. I gasped out as I looked around and saw ponies scrambling frantically.

But I heard nothing, I could see mouths moving but no words. Staring around me found twilight in the crowd screaming her head off in tears as she charged towards me. But nothing she said registered. Gasping one last time I looked towards the stallion that had blasted me. And almost dropped to the ground in shock, all I saw was a white corpse on the ground. It looked like it had literally been sucked dry and shriveled up.

'Huh serves that basted right. Atleast he went down with me, guess my magic absorption finished the job.'

Grunting out I tried to stand back up but immediately fell back down to my knees and onto my hands.

Quickly though I felt hooves grabbing me as I was rolled onto my back. A doctor was immediately at my side his horn glowing green as he looked over me before the glow stopped and he just shook his head slowly. The wound was too great for help.

As everything slowly dimmed I found all six of my friend's faces and the two princesses standing over me words moving but nothing reached my ears. And right before the darkness completely swallowed me I summoned all my energy to speak one last thing. "Thank you all, for letting me die happy." It seemed to take an hour to speak out but as soon as the last words left I smiled and let the blackness take over.

But right as vision left and everything went black the pain in my chest erupted again. Slowly creeping into every inch of my body, I wanted to scream out in pain. It was unimaginable a thousand times worse than the actual blast. Every inch of my body itched and burned in screaming pain.

And for one moment my vision returned but I couldn't move or speak, all I saw where eyes glued to me in awe and scared expressions. Before all the pain exploded a thousand fold and a bright beam of light burst from the whole in my chest as everything went black again.


	8. Waking up

*BEEP**BEEP**BEEP*

'Ughhhh where am I, and who beat me with a pillowcase full of bricks.'

*BEEP**BEEP**BEEP*

'AND WHY IS THERE ALWAYS FUCKING BEEPING!'

*BEEP**BEEP**BEEP*

'Ok getting up to turn it off, I'm so done with this.'

As I slowly cracked my eyes open light flooded my world. A blinding white blocking out everything. It reminded me of… 'Oh god I'm dead now aren't I.'

*BEEP**BEEP**BEEP*

'Nope not even hell is this annoying'

As the light dimmed the white walls of a hospital slowly revealed themselves. I lay there for a second letting my eyes adjust when I felt something shift beside my bed.

Looking over was a sleeping Twilight leaning onto the edge of my bed behind her in a couple of chairs slept both Rarity and Applejack.

I couldn't help but notice how cute she looked sleeping like that, it made me want to slowly brush my fingers through her hair and out of her face but my body hurt so much I didn't want to move.

Laying back I let myself think slowly over what I remembered last.

I was at the grand galloping gale.

Rarity had asked me to dance.

Prince Blueblood made a terrible mistake insulting her and we dueled.

After I won things got hazy, I remember seeing a bright flash and pain but that was it.

Trying to remember exactly what happened to slowly came to me.

'THAT FUCKER, WHAT A DISHONEST UN NOBLE PIECE OF SHIT. THE NEXT TIME I SEE HIM I AM SO GOING TO… wait I, he, I'm pretty sure he is dead from what I saw.'

He thaught about that over and over, 'he was a piece of shit alright but I wanted to leave behind killing and violence once I saw this new world. But I guess if protecting my loved ones means dealing with people like him I would gladly do it again.'

Pushing thoughts of Blueblood out of my head I lay back to try and rest. I'd been in plenty of hospitals and learned to just go with it, the moment doctors found you woke up they just insist you go right back to sleep and rest anyways.

*BEEP**beep**BEEP**beep**BEEP**beep*

'Wait is that a... someone else is hooked up in here I wonder who.

Craning my neck to look the other way I saw another bed with a dark blue Pegasus occupying it. I could only see the back of the pony as her head was hidden behind I curtain and wings covered her cutie mark hiding any knowledge other than her race and color to me.

She looked almost as if she was emaciated and hadn't eaten in weeks, kind of like when I caught a glimpse of Blueblood after he... NO

'Could this pony have somehow been caught in the crossfire and I caused this as well?'

Tears started to build on my face 'why, why do I always cause bad things to those around me. I don't even have to try but people always get hurt being near me. And now the curse has been brought here as well. Mother, father, I'm sorry. I try so hard to protect but all I end up doing is hurting and killing innocent. Well blueblood wasn't really all that innocent, and after that hole he left I can't say I really feel pity but… THE HOLE.'

Ignoring the pain throughout my body my hand shot to my chest under the blanket.

It met solid resistance over the hole and I surprising lack of specific pain to the area.

But I was frozen at what I felt, rubbing my hand slowly It felt like my chest was covered in a soft patch of fur.

My curiosity exploded as I slowly gripped the covers and pulled them down. Freezing at what I saw.

I was… I don't even know what I was, slowing and thinking rationally for a second the only logical thing I could think happened was that my magic finally peaked and turned me, but into what.

I still had a human like basic anatomy arms hand chest torso, I could also feel my legs under the blankets but trying to wiggle my toes proved impossible. Not like they couldn't be moved but like they didn't exist at all. I was also slightly larger than I remembered, my body mass probably a good 10% larger witch doesn't sound like much but I was pretty stacked to begin with, so I was kind of thankful much more and I would start looking freaky.

But what truly froze my heart and forced my attention was my skin, err well lack or hidden thereof.

Most of what I saw was covered in a short golden fur, it reminded me almost of a standard ponies' coat only a tiny bit longer but not shaggy by any means. I would say blonde like my hair color as it was very close but it just didn't seem to fit, blonde was just a plain yellow variation, this coat seemed to glow faintly. Like a golden shine covered it.

As crazy as that was I could barely wrap my head around it but the real surprise was on my chest where the hole had burnt. No evidence of where I had been maimed remained the six inch whole gone. But in its place sat a half foot of what reminded me of a pony's cutie mark of a full moon, complete with a fading black to golden glow around it.

'A moon, how random. Why would I have a moon cutie mark like thing on my chest? Ok let's compare it to cutie marks just since it resembles one. Cutie marks are granted when ponies find either their true talents or callings in life or anything majorly dominant to their personalities.'

'So why do I have a moon? I mean I love the moon and the night but there is so much more that would seem more likely. Although I kind of like it, it reminds me of Luna.'

'LUNA!'

Suddenly it made sense, looking back at the pony on the bed next to mine I saw the Pegasus, or should I say Alicorn. Staring for a second I proved myself right, part of her black patch of her cutie mark poked out between her wings.

I felt… I didn't honestly know how I felt. It was obvious she had saved my life, but the question was why?

She owed me nothing, we had just met and could barely be considered friends. But to go to such extremes, I knew she was aware of my condition and yet from her appearance had apparently used so much magic that I had probably sucked away that she barely survived it. So why would a princess, co ruler of the land of Equestria risk her life to try and save me. I knew it wasn't in the job details of being a princess to sacrifice yourself like that or I'm sure Celestia would be lying right there instead since her heart was so kind and loving like a mother to everyone.

But logic aside there lay the near dead form of the princess of the night. And it was all his fault.

Before he could spiral into pity though he felt shifting beside him. Slowly turning his head he watched Twilights eyes slowly part. Seeing him watching her eyes grew wide as she sat stunned watching them.

Thinking exactly what was on my mind I spoke almost in a whisper. "You're really cute when you sleep ya know that?"

She blushed at the comment looking away for a moment before her face grew serious and tears welled in her eyes. "I thaught you were dead."

The first tear fell leaving a wet spot on the bed before more joined it.

"I watched you fall, and the blood. There was so much blood, I tried to run to you but the crowd. And then I saw the hole and just shut down. I was so scared I lost you and me."

Before she could continue I pressed my finger to her lips silencing her before speaking/whispering to her again. "It's alright Twilight, I'm here now. I truly am sorry for scaring you, like I've said before I won't die. I have all my precious friends to protect."

Our quiet talk seemed to rouse the sleeping ponies behind her as well. Seeing that I was awake it was a matter of seconds before my bed was surrounded by the three girls.

They seemed like even bigger wrecks than Twilight did, Applejack was fighting crying back so hard she couldn't speak straight but I still understood what she was saying as it was similar to twilights words.

Rarity though was silent, and getting a look at her I could tell she was not ok. Never had I ever seen her anything less than perfectly presentable. I could barely believe the pony I was looking at now was the same pony I knew. Mascara thoroughly covering her face from multiple crying sessions. Red lipstick smeared across her mouth probably from rubbing her face to dry tears. And her hair was a complete wreck, curls were gone and in their places were knotted balls of mane and stray hairs.

Taking control I put my finger to my mouth making a slow "shhhhhh" trying to calm the girls as I used my other hand to try and sit up.

Twilight however tried to press me back down. "Derick don't get up you should really rest I mea."

But once again I just "Shhhh'd" her louder. Once I finally reached a ninety degree angle 'witch was incredibly tough as it felt like something was anchoring my back down. It kind of felt like I was sitting on my cape as It was still worn but I ignored it for now focusing on the girls.' sitting up I signaled all three to come closer.

I waiting until all three had gathered around Rarity and AJ still hiccupping from crying.

Saying nothing I reached out and pulled all three girls close into a warm embrace.

No words were said for close to a minute as I held them close.

Whispering out as I held them I spoke. "I know you have a lot to say all of you but I can't listen to all three at once, I promise that I'm ok now and I am so sorry for worrying you all." And I pulled them in for another hug after a few seconds AJ spoke.

"Derick, we were so worried about ya 'all, the three of us never left your side. We were so scared to lose you, ah guess the old saying ya don't know what ya got till it's gone is right. I didn't know how much a part of mah life ya really became until ah almost lost ya. I'm not gonna holler at ya for being dumb like ah want too though. I'm just glad you're ok.

Twilight decided to take the next turn. "She's right, I *sniff* took for granted having your company as just a guest, I was so scared one you got hurt. It felt like I was watching one of my best friends die and I didn't know what to do. All my *Sniff* knowledge and I was reduced to a scared filly who didn't have a clue. I'm just so glad you're ok. *sniff*"

Rarity was still fighting tears as she tried to talk. "Der*hic*ick, I I I just *Sniff* it's just." She seemed lost for words and distressed before it was like she snapped. *BWAAAAAAA* tears erupted from her face as she lunged to me hugging me tightly for almost five minutes crying until she finally calmed down and finished so she could talk. Her voice was cracked and pain riddled, listening to the hurt in her voice pained me, I had caused so much sorrow among my friends it was driving me mad. "Derick" she whispered gently to me.

Calmly and affectionately I whispered back. "Yes dear?"

She trembled for a few seconds shaking from her crying bout as she tried to find words. "I'm sorry, I'm a mess it's just that. I feel like it's my fault, you were defending me like a true gentleman and got so hurt because of me I just lost myself. I couldn't even look at myself knowing I had helped cause this, I hope you can forgive me I." my finger on a role today found its way to her lips silencing her.

"Girls," I spoke out in a low voice. "I only want to say this once so listen closely, I do not hold anyone but myself accountable. Rarity this isn't even partly your fault, if it was any of you girls I would go to any lengths to protect you all like that. And even if I had died today I would have happily given my life doing so. All three of you are so important in my life already, so please don't cry like this I just want to see you all happy. If anything I am the true culprit in tragedy here." I said looking over to Luna's bed. "She is the victim of my failure, while I am here because of my own she is in the hospital because of my actions. I would have rather died knowing nothing would happen to any innocent pony like this than others be hurt because of my own mistakes."

Just then the door to the room opened and in walked a familiar Dr. and Nurse pair. Followed shortly behind by Princess Celestia herself.

Taking the initiative before anyone could speak the princess's gentle voice filled the room. "Derick those are the words I was hoping to hear. I'm sorry for eavesdropping I just felt it would be best to let you wake in a less overwhelming environment until you calmed down. Although I do have to correct one part of your speech, the gala wasn't today or even yesterday, it ended over four days ago."

Not very surprised I nodded back "Yeah I figured I just didn't know what to say so I spoke. Four days though? I should be dead not from what I can tell almost fully healed from a certainly fatal injury in four days."

Sitting down between my and Luna's bed the princess spoke again. "Derick I believe a full explanation is in order." The princess stopped for a moment as she looked over to her sister's bed and at her sickly figure before looking back with sorrow on her face. "I guess we should start at the beginning. After you returned from your time with my sister I was overjoyed. I had not seen her smile and laugh so freely in over a millennia, but not more than an hour with you seemed to change her into a happier person if not for at least the next few hours. I did not however pry on what happened I am thankful to you for whatever transpired. When a set of guards approached us and declared a duel involving a tall bipedal creature and the prince Luna almost dashed to the grounds the guards had pointed to before I stopped her and we travelled together. On the way there her face had a look of fear and worry on it with you on her mind I'm sure of. But I was able to talk to her and help her reclaim her royal demeanor. Before arriving at the grounds you were located at."

The princess breathed deeply thinking over the next few minutes of events. "Well I'm sure you know the next few minutes of what happened. And on a side note may I just state I am very proud of you for the way you handled yourself like a gentleman and defended one of my ponies with kindness in your heart. I am very ashamed in the late prince's actions. Upon the tragic use of magic you witnessed I immediately had my guards summon medical attention, I had to withhold myself even though I direly wished to rush to your aid. I unfortunately am not gifted with healing magic and would have been unable to assist especially with your condition involving magic. Luna however." She looked back the fragile body of the princess in the bed a tear forming in her eye.

"She took what she witnessed in much greater horror than I expected. Upon seeing you fall I felt an incredible shockwave of magic and emotion pulse from her as she rushed towards you and cast a very powerful magic on you to try and save your life. But unfortunately it came with great cost and almost claimed her own in return." Several tears actually fell from the sun goddess's face reliving the tragic memory.

"She actually had died from you completely draining her of magic much like the late prince. However what happened next can only be explained as a miracle. Magic more immense than anything I ever felt erupted from you, and your body rose to its feet as light poured off you. Although I saw your eyes and they were very lifeless so I'm not surprised if you do not remember any of this."

I shook my head at her statement. "No Princess this is news to me. I do not remember anything but searing pain after falling."

She merely nodded to me before continuing. "I figured as much, Magic truly is an incredible thing though. It guided your actions subconsciously into the event that Equestria is calling Gods Birth."

The princess seemed to blush and look away nervously as she called out the name. It struck me as nothing less than insane, "Uhh Princess what exactly does that mean."

Getting back on focus she answered. "It's not a literal meaning of what happened. Just to those who witnessed it many were uhh overwhelmed at what the witnessed to say the least."

It was very strange hearing the princess's pause and lack of what to say.

"But let me explain what happened first, although you had better see it for yourself, the doctors have already cleared you for activity as you are already back in perfect health. We were just waiting for you to awaken." Finishing she pointed at a nearby wall mirror. Obviously meaning for me to go and look into it.

Slowly I gripped the edge of the bed closing my eyes 'I was kind of wishing to take it all in through the mirror and refrained from looking at the rest of my body as I rose' pushing myself off I landed on my… Well they didn't feel like feet and definitely didn't sound like feet as they made sounds similar to hooves as the hit the floor. Walking with a clop every step I approached the mirror and took in what I was seeing as I almost hit the floor in surprise.

The best way I could describe it would be like I was a satyr. Only instead of half goat they substituted in pony. And a quick glance at some bonus features seemed to make that an understatement. I was now standing nude but completely covered in a coat of golden fur like a normal pony in most places. But there were some abnormal markings on my ankles wrists and neck that resembled electric blue stripes as well as a few pale blue strips across my face interlapping on my forehead. Looking down out of curiosity my feet err hooves well. I don't know what to call them but they surprised me. My legs were normal but instead of feet or hooves it was kind of like they met halfway. They were apparently solid on the bottom like a hoof rendering shoes unnecessary but shaped kind of like a foot and slightly flexible. So I didn't really lose any mobility it was interesting to say the least.

My body was still toned like it had been I could tell especially due to the slight mass increase. But it was hidden slightly below the fur, you could follow the curves of muscle but had to pay a close eye to do so.

The moon on my chest was a brilliant silver almost glowing and it was beautiful. I reached up and slowly touched it, it felt exactly like when I had brushed against Luna's coat.

But the two largest surprises were brand new additions. On my back I found the source of my frustration sitting up. 'How the fiery fuck did I miss those until now?'

Branching off from high shoulder to mid back was a set of giant wings folded back matching my body height even in their folded state. Witch judging from a quick glance at Celestia told me I was probably close to just over seven feet now as I was slightly taller than her now.

And to top it all off a proportionately small horn poked out from my wild hair. It looked roughly six inches. Slightly larger than Twilight and Rarity's. And roughly a third the length of Celestia's.

Turning sideways I tried to get a view of my back and sides. They seemed pretty normal enough besides the golden fur in most areas. I was mostly checking to see whether I had a tail or not now, and I guess the answer was a solid maybe. My hair was spiked from the top down my back seemed to grow in a solid patch down my back all the way to where a tail would probably be. It was roughly a foot long and striped with more of the blue from my coat. It seemed to stand and slightly wave all on its own accord. It was pretty badass looking if I do say so myself.

Getting enough looks at myself I breathed deeply before turning back to Celestia and nodding waiting for the rest of the story.

Obliging she spoke again. "Your body seemed to visibly grow before our eyes as you grew fur. The wings and horn as well as most of your size gains were gradual over the last few days and may still to grow slightly over the next few months but the growth spurt perse seems to have ended."

"Oblivious of any surroundings and with a shockwave of magic Luna's magic separated from your body and filled in your missing chest causing what you see and almost guaranteed saving your life. And as it finished sealing your chest your body summoned one more great blast of magic that seemed to rush from you and back into Luna saving her from death before you collapsed and we brought you both to the hospital. You were originally going to be placed both in private rooms but when we moved you apart Luna started thrashing until moved back in close proximity of you. It seems your magic's have bonded together in some way. I wish to explain more but we will only find out more after she returns to conscious."

"I was originally fearing your reaction to wake up stationing guards here 24/7 waiting to alert me to your waking as well as watch over Luna. Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack refused to leave your side as well and have been with you the entire time."

I looked over at my three friends who were still tear soaked and smiled a loving smile back at them. It meant the world to me they cared this much for me.

However I was brought back to reality once more as the princess spoke again. "I would like to thank you though, I heard all your speech earlier and would like to say that Luna's condition is not your fault. She must have developed a bond with you quickly and acted on emotion. I was worried at first how you would react and I was not disappointed in your noble words. Her condition is stable now and is just taking time to recover. She was completely drained of all her magic and only kept alive by yours as she is right now mostly. She has recovered a small amount of magic but it will be several weeks before the large majority of it returns to her. But she should wake within a few days when it can support her without yours aiding it."

Speaking up I had a question to ask. "Uhh by aiding it do you mean the magic I used to bring her back?"

At my question her face gained a troubled look. "No unfortunately, most of that magic was consumed just bringing her back. And it was a truly enormous amount of magic to say the least. More than I poses myself." This comment seemed to trouble her slightly. "Now it seems she is being kept alive off a siphon of your own magic much like how you absorbed magic only in reverse. Your body is feeding hers and keeping it alive. Needless to say I must ask you to stay in within the hospital grounds for the next few days till she is well enough to sustain herself."

Speaking back quickly I reassured her. "Absolutely princess. I would stay for years if it meant helping Luna recover, it's the least I could do."

She smiled warmly at my answer. "I know you would." She spoke quietly and genuinely although there was something else in her voice she was hiding.

"However there are many things I must attend to and I must depart. I have taken over Luna's responsibilities until she recovers as well. I know there are many more questions you must have but I hope they can wait for a few days."

I simply nodded back to the princess. "I understand and I will wait patiently. And I will guard Luna with my life so you can rest assured she will be fine."

She smiled happily again. "I know, now rest I'm sure you must be tired. I will see you again as soon as I can." And she turned and left the room the Dr and Nurse following her out after quickly checking over Luna.

As soon as they all had departed I turned back to the girls who had remained silent. "Thank you all for staying with me for the last few days. It means the world to me, but I'm not going anywhere and you all have lives you can't put on hold. Twilight I'm sure Spike misses you, and Rarity your customers are probably waiting for many fantastic dresses. And I don't even need to mention how much the farm depends on you AJ."

Both Twilight and AJ silently agreed with a nod. And left after a few more minutes of hugging and repeating how much they had been worried and promises of visiting soon before leaving. Rarity however stayed behind.

"It's ok Rare, you don't have to worry about me."

She spoke back in a cracked voice from crying too much. It was barely audible but I listened closely. "Please, can I stay with you? I shut down my shop for the next few weeks already." Her eyes were practically begging me.

Deciding to give in I walked back to the bed and lay sat down. "Of course Rare, but if you insist I won't have you sleeping in the chair again. I know it might be awkward but I'm pretty sure you could fit in the bed with me. I'm going to take a nap I feel exhausted from taking in so much so quickly."

Her face seemed to soften in happiness as she trotted over and hopped onto the bed as I lay down and pressed herself into me as I curled an arm around her. I knew she was really torn up from what happened and I just wanted to comfort her.

I let sleep slowly take over as I felt her breathing calmly as she curled up closer into my chest.

Right before sleep took over I heard her whisper out. "Thank you"

I gave a tight squeeze in response pulling her in tight as my response before sleep took over.

**Wow I finished this one quickly. It's not that long but I just wanted to get it out and in words. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out too. I know it's pretty different and crazy so I'd love to know how you all think about it please leave a review on thoughts it means a ton to me. I'm hoping to have another chapter out by the end of the weekend too. So until next time thank you all very much for reading.**


	9. Changes

**I had to get really creative with this chapter, so if someone has some suggestions or notices some things that don't seem to add up please let me know, otherwise I hope you all enjoy and want to thank you all for reading.**

I woke up sometime in the middle of the night judging from the blackness outside my window. In all honesty despite my time of immobile bed rest I was still exhausted from recovery and probably would've crashed through the night. But I had been shaken awake by Rarity and the front of my chest was damp where her face had been pressed against. The obvious work of a nightmare.

Acting more out of just instinct I began to run my fingers softly through her mane without disturbing her sleep. I had to be careful though normally this wouldn't have been hard because of how well kept her mane would've been. But she had just been through her own personal hell and her mane was severely disheveled and knotted.

It seemed to help though because after a few minutes the shivering seemed to ease up and finally came to a stop.

For a while Derick just lay back in the bed stroking Rarity's mane, and gently detangling it in a few spots I could without pulling her hair. All the while staring off into the night sky outside the window near my bed. The view was incredible, overlooking Equestria from high upon a mountain. The hospital must rest near the edge of canterlot looking over Equestria below.

The night sky out the window was only depressing though, not only did it remind me of the Princess in the bed on my other side. But it was a dull night, the stars where out and no clouds were blocking the sky. But it just seemed to lack its normal shine, as if the sky itself felt like morning over its princess. Makes sense though in my opinion, Celestia is the Princess of the sun and raises it every day. Without Luna Celestia had probably been in charge of the night as well and wouldn't be able to make it truly special like Luna can. He had only known her since the gala but already had been able to feel the special connection between the princess and the night. They belonged to each other one could not be as special without the other.

Giving a sigh he just lay back into his pillow and stared at the ceiling. Remaining there still brushing fingers through Rarity's mane for the next few minutes until a small whisper came from the mare who had woken up apparently.

"Derick I" she seemed to pause to find words, and for once Derick just sat there and let her find what she wanted to say. It was in the tone of an impending apology though he could already tell. But he didn't want to cut her off, if she talked about it she would be just one step closer to leaving it behind.

She seemed to struggle finding anything to say until she just eased up and let her tension drop before she just snuggled into him tighter. "Thank you."

This caught him by surprise ready for the almost guaranteed 'it's all my fault I'm sorry' speech. He started to speak back how it was not important and he was glad she was just safe but she continued.

Her voice slowly picked up till it was no longer just a whisper just a soft voice. "I want to say I'm sorry, I feel terrible seeing you in the hospital. But I know you, and I know that you would leap to any of your friend's defense like that. I just happened to be the damsel in distress at the time. I want to take the blame but I know you would just argue, you're as stubborn as a mule I swear. But if you are anything like the man I think I know then you weren't lying yesterday when you said you would trade your life to protect your friends. So thank you, simply for being you." I could feel her hoofs wrap around me and hold me tight. It wasn't the kind of hug a lover or anything like that would give, it was like the hug a small child would use on his blanket. Something they feel safe and comfortable with.

Keeping an ever steady pace of brushing her mane still, it was finally starting to become partly straight but still heavily knotted up. "Rarity… I have failed to protect many people during my life. My mother was murdered only a foot away from me and I could only stand helpless, my father died in a car crash that I survived. My best friend died to a disease I could have saved him from but was too far away from the hospital and he passed as I traveled there to donate the lung that would have saved his life. And I lost over a hundred men under my control in the military.

I haven't told a single pony any of this except you now. And the reason I did is so you can understand that when I said I would trade my life for any of you girls I would. Right before I ended in Equestria I had done something that should have ended my life guaranteed and would have if I didn't end up here. And I had done it with a promise to myself to never fail to protect anyone close to me again, and I meant it even if it's just something as small as standing up to a bully like blueblood regardless of how it escalated I would have defended you."

Finishing she was silent for minutes. Finally she looked up at me with a tear running down her face. I couldn't help but take in her expression, I was seeing the true Rarity today. None of her high class façade or proper lifestyle. She was far too emotionally involved to even act like herself how she regularly would she was simply just Rarity right now. "Derick is that true? I'm so sorry I didn't know your old life was like that. I couldn't even imagine, I almost lost you and we haven't been friends for that long even. I would be destroyed if any of those things happened to me. Even with all of that hidden inside you you're still the strongest person I know. And I'm glad I can call you my friend."

Finally pulling my fingers out of her mane as I was not going to be able to get any farther with just my hands I sat up in the bed. "And I am glad to call you mine, for a long time I was just a hollow person not really there. But since I arrived here I've never felt better and it just makes the risk for you all the more worth it. Anyways though enough with the sad face for now, and I feel like stretching my legs a bit how about we go find a brush and I help you fix your mane. I'm no expert but I'm sure I can handle a few tangles."

This seemed to snap Rarity back to Atleast part of her normal personality as she seemed to for the first time notice the state of her mane, and her face flushed red in embarrassment. "He he, yes I think that sounds wonderful, a proper lady should never have a disorganized mane. And as loathe as I am to say it mine is rather dreadful right now isn't it.

"We can't have that now can we." I chuckled rising out of the bed to stretch my legs as she hunted down a brush." I took the moment to go back to the wall mirror, it was still a surreal experience to look into the mirror expecting to see same old me but instead seeing a… well in all honesty I have no idea what to call myself. I have both wings witch seemed a few inches longer each since yesterday and the horn on my head, both characteristics of an Alicorn like Luna and Celestia. But my body shape was still strongly human influence I don't even know if I should call myself a pony a human or an Alicorn. But all debate aside it was a relief staring back at me, I had been worried I would end up something silly like a fairy or an animal like a phoenix. And as cool as being a phoenix would've been it couldn't compare to the plain awesome staring back at me from the glass.

Before I could ponder on my thoughts more though I heard a triumphant "A-HA" sound from the bathroom signaling Rarity must have found a suitable brush. Shortly after the sound of hoof's on linoleum confirmed it as she trotted out of the bathroom brush floating magically beside her.

Walking back to the bed I sat down and patted the surface next to me. "Well come on then, I'll help you get the snags out."

We both knew that she needed no help at all from me to do the task, but I did know that she was still mentally fragile and worn. She was doing a good job of putting on a face but underneath you could tell she was still having a hard time.

Setting herself down to my right I motioned for her to set her head down on my lap so I could get full access to her mane. But a tinge of red crossed her face.

"Oh stop that, just imagine you're at the spa getting a mane-acure or whatever they're called."

Seeming to go with it I felt her head drop until her chin rested on my left leg and front of her chest on my right.

I brought the brush up to start from the root of her mane but quickly got nowhere as the brush didn't want to budge and slightly jerked her head. I had to wince a bit as I figured I had probably tugged a bit hard and would hear rarity in some way display pain.

But she remained silent, almost oblivious to the world around her. I Atleast expected a correction on what I did wrong but received nothing.

Figuring to just go with it I started again but this time decided to start from the bottom and work my way up. I wouldn't have to deal with so many tangles at once this way and wouldn't pull her hair so hard again.

After a few minutes I had worked out a good system and was making progress but Rarity was still silent and distant. It made me wonder what was wrong, so I gently ran the back of my fingers down the side of her neck in a gently way. I hate to think of it this way but it reminded me of how you would pet a sleeping dog. I ran my hand over the spot a few more times before speaking gently.

"Hey Rare, is something on your mind?"

I heard a small sigh escape from her before she answered.

"Well darling it's just that. Well I was just wondering why Princess Luna is in the hospital with us."

I raised my brow a bit at her statement. "Uhh well she tried to use magic on me and."

"No that's not what I meant, I know how she ended up in here what I want to know is why. From what the princess had said you only met a few hours before. So why would a princess knowing the consequences do what she did? Don't get me wrong darling, I am forever grateful of her deed else wise you would not be…. Well you know." She seemed to get more Emotional with her voice and withdrawn as she almost brought up what could have been, proof it still troubled her deeply.

"Ahh, I see. Well I can't say anything or sure like you said we had only met a few hours before. But I think I know why. Princess Celestia sent both of us off to spend some time together at the Gala, and from the way she made it sound Luna has had a hard time lately when it comes to others. And from what I witnessed myself I think I know what she is going through. Many ponies see her as Princess Luna Goddess of the Moon, but Celestia knew I wouldn't and she was right. It was kind of funny at first watching her get a little baffled when I treated her like Luna the pony instead of Luna the Princess, but pretty soon we were laughing and enjoying each other's company. So I think she is just lonely, every pony already sees her as a princess that nobody will actually treat her like a pony the same as everyone else. And if that's true I very much doubt she has any friends. So I'm guessing that she just saw a friend in danger and acted upon it. Not as a princess but as my friend, and one that I am truly lucky to have." I finished only to find that without realizing it my hand was holding my chest, right where the moon was.

Rarity had a look of realization and shock on her face. "I… I never thaught. I just figured she had so many ponies to look up to her I never considered that someone like that could be lonely. I guess it makes sense though, it's hard to see the crown and feel comfortable enough to treat royalty like a common friend. And here I am, wishing since I was a filly I could be a princess when I had a gift much greater. I don't know what I would do without my friends."

While the conversation had steered back away from Luna at the end I could tell from the genuine tone of her words that Rarity was understanding the princess's plight.

"I know something dramatic has occurred recently for her recently in the past, and whatever it is its making life tough for her, Princess status or not. But from the time I spent with her I can tell the she is a wonderful pony and just needs some friends by her side. And well after." I trailed off as I just stared in thaught at my hand still holding the moon on my chest clearly getting my point across though. "Well you know. I will definitely stand by her as a friend, she deserves that much Atleast. I just wish I could help her now."

As I said those final words it was as if my heart had herd me. I could feel my whole chest start to get warm and almost start to burn. And soon grew hot it felt like it would have been incredibly painful but instead a feeling replaced it. More so an instinct or urge than a feeling, I just knew what it meant. Standing I walked to the frail Alicorn in the bed next to mine.

My strange behavior cause a bit of alarm for rarity before she spoke up.

"Derick whatever are you doing?"

Laughing out a half crazy laugh I merely responded "No clue! But I know that I should"

And with one step I closed the gap and set a hand directly onto Luna's chest.

The moment my fingers made contact with the soft midnight fur I could feel the warmth in my chest explode and wrap like a flow of air currents around my chest and down my arm. My palm felt like it was set ablaze as the feeling of using magic exploded from my chest and down my arm into the night Princess.

It felt like my hand should be getting singed to a crisp, all the heat was there I could feel it. But the pain was missing. I didn't fully understand it but I could see the effects almost immediately. Luna's body seemed to be flourishing, where she was pervious frail and almost withered away she seemed to be recovering at amazing speeds. Her mane that was a previous dull grey blue seemed to be gaining color into a dark royal blue. And her wings witch before looked as if they would break from a gust of wind seemed to transform into sturdy and proud wings.

And as soon as it had come I felt the magic slowly dimming, and with its leaving I could feel exhaustion replace it. It was piling on weighing my limbs down dragging me into blissful unconscious. Quickly before it claimed me I spun as I started to drop down the side of loans bed and stared at Rarity. Don't need to give her another heart attack worrying. And as the last of the light left I was able to get a few words out. "Tired... just… sleeping."

*Chirp* *Chirp*

"Uhh What" I was able to moan out.

Cracking my eyes I could see beams of light entering my hospital room from the sunrise outside the window.

*Chirp*

I played back into my pillow relaxing as I mumbled out to no one "Sure beats waking up to the beeps"

"Why yes I quite enjoy the birds in the morning indeed"

Hearing the voice made me spring awake and sit up. "Princess Celestia, good morning I wasn't aware you were in here I apologize."

The princess just giggled slightly at my surprise and flustered answer. "Tis quite alright Derick, I was actually here to check if you were awake yet. The Doctors said that you merely passed out and should be fine come morning."

"Passed out? What hap…? Ohm. I'm sorry I didn't know what I was doing I just had this feeling that told me to do something and I can't remember what but it was about Luna and something I knew I had to do. What happened, and where is Rarity?" I looked over to Luna's bed only to find it empty and I started panicking that something had happened.

"Rarity is home in ponyville safe and sound, she was reluctant at first but agreed to return to her store. And Luna is fine, from what the Doctors where able to discover about the event something happened between the magical connections you two share. And from what Rarity told me concerning the events prior I believe that your body recognized the will to aid Luna and responded. In the past you have used magic in moments of stress and need, but now you have a much more easily accessed grasp of magic, which is actually why I came here today. You have been cleared to leave due to your rapid improvement, and thanks to your aiding of Luna you are no longer needed to help her sustain her magic. I do however need to speak to you about your new life though, as you have noticed you are no ordinary person anymore."

I just snorted a bit at the comment "Yea, what gives it away? The wings the horn or the fact I have both and am still bipedal?"

The comment actually earned a genuine laugh from Celestia. "It is an interesting combination to say the least. While you do remain humanesque in stature I feel for simplicity we will be classifying you as an Alicorn. I believe it should be suitable the name more classifies us for both our horn and wing presence."

"Fair enough, Alicorn sounds better than anything I would probably come up with anyways."

"Before you depart though I would like to go over the extent of changes that have occurred to you that are not visual."

"So like what having a horn and wings actually details and stuff like that right?" I asked.

I received a nod back from the princess. "Correct, many things will be similar to a standard unicorn or Pegasus so you can receive some guidance from other ponies like Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash for those. But there are several differences in being an Alicorn to a standard pony, and from the tests we ran while you were unconscious confirms you are more like an Alicorn than a standard unicorn and Pegasus."

The Princess paused talking for a moment and walked to the empty area of the room and began to unfurl her wings slightly. "Starting with wings Pegasus are built with smaller lightweight frames generally with less muscle mass in their limbs but compensate with the ability of flight. Alicorn's such as Luna and myself are slightly different, while we do have slightly less dense bodies we are not to the extent of a Pegasus, instead we have a much larger wingspan to compensate. Therefore we are more suited for gliding and long distance travel, we are agile yes but not nearly to the extent of a Pegasus. You on the other hand though are different and largely so." She tucked her wings back and walked forward gesturing me to take her place.

Stepping forward I stood in front of her waiting.

"Your body when in human form was extraordinarily developed and has transferred over accordingly. Not only have are you theoretically physically superior now more muscular and should be highly dexterous. But you weight reflects this, your frame is very heavy and your wings have shaped accordingly and are extremely special if I do say so myself, if you don't mind could you spread them?"

It was the first time I had attempted to use my wings in any fashion, it was awkward at that too. Trying to find and use muscles that you never had previously, they felt like they didn't belong but at the same time like they were always there. Finally grasping how to use the muscles I was able to force my wings to part and spread. I could feel them lifting from my back and rising into the air, the top of the wing which normally sat roughly shoulder height raised a good three feet above my head. And the bottom feathers stretched to brush the floor. They were sharply angled like a falcons or eagles before they extended outwards.

As I struggled to control the wings Celestia began to speak again.

"An X-ray upon your frame discovered your wings are duel purposed, currently they are suited to have high mobility, normally this would not be possible for someone so large but your wings muscular system is highly developed like the rest of your body, and although it will probably be very taxing on your body you will be able to use it to fly with high agility. This is a result of you keeping your wings muscles tight, it holds the wing in a smaller more powerful frame. Could you try and loosen the muscles in them and spread them again?"

It took me a few moments of flexing and stretching to realize how I was subconsciously keeping my wings taught, and probably a good five more to begin to relax them enough to feel a change. It was a subtle shift at first but by the end or as far as I could get it completely changed their appearance.

Before where they are sharply angled and thick with muscle they now seemed stretched thin. The span was incredibly large as well, before they had been a solid 12 feet wide nearly extending the whole room, and roughly 10 feet tall just shy of the roof. Now they were still the same 10 feet tall but cramped into the small room, curling around the corners of the walls forming almost a complete loop. They were Atleast twice as wide and I had a feeling that they could go much farther.

The princess was taken aback and almost looked to be admiring the span. I was floored when I could hear a small "wow" escape her lips. Before she actually spoke voice still astonished. But what truly got my attention where her wings apparently involuntarily expanding.

Deciding to take advantage of the moment I cleared my throat a bit before pointing at her wings. "Uhh princess, are you ok over there?

It took only a few seconds after her checking what I pointed to before the snow white fur on her cheeks tinted pink. She let out an easy laugh to brush off the event as she tucked her wings away.

"Sorry about that, it's just a very impressive view, it's Incredible, when we scanned you two days before you woke the system showed they could theoretically stretch to twenty two feet at the time, if you truly had room to stretch now you may be pressing thirty five." She seemed to just stare for a minute before a quick shake of her head brought her back on track.

"You may fold them away now. This leads us into our second major change, largely ignored due to their lack of a visual symbol such as a horn or wings many ponies' do not know that Alicorn's such as Luna and I do not possess the gifts of earth ponies'. You however have the physical boost that they are granted to compensate, hence why your wing spans are on such opposite spectrums, if you had a standard lightweight body you would more than likely have a similar span to Luna and myself. Instead you have two designed to take advantage of your strength, you can use your immense strength with them compacted to reach high burst speeds and move with high agility, but you would be unable to travel long distances with ease without tiring easily. So your extraordinarily long wingspan compensates by letting you take full advantage of flight. They will catch thermals and travel on the wind with ease. Both of witch and much more you will learn from experience and with assistance from your friends."

By the time she had finished I had almost managed to get the wings under control and roughly back to their agile state, it was a very complex muscle system to say the least. It reminded me of a how a Chinese style fan works. They muscles seemed to be ribboned in a similar way, when they were in the smaller form they were pressed tightly together and made the wings bulkier but stronger. And like a half folded fan, could be swung harder without bending and pushed air harder. When extended it was like a fully opened fan, very thin and flimsy but could catch a huge amount of air per swing along the massive surface, overall moving more air but at a less intense speed.

"As for the rest of an earth ponies aspects I believe you will have a very easy time adapting without much guidance as you were already very gifted in your physique. But that's as far as normal goes when you're concerned, onto magic and the unicorn part is where things start getting more drastically different. Capability wise you should rival even Luna and myself to put that into perspective the most powerful unicorn to exist in sheer magic capacity was Star Swirl the bearded, he possessed an immense magical affinity roughly a three hundred times greater than an everyday unicorn. My student Twilight is currently roughly half that but still has room to grow though. You wouldn't know it but if she truly accesses her magic it is an immense storm of energy waiting to be released but she normally is very reserved and contained. But when you factor an Alicorn like myself into the equation Star Swirl measures up to just under a third of our power. As we possess roughly a thousand times more than a standard unicorn."

The sheer scale she used blew me away, at first I was so amazed that Twilight was actually so powerful but my amazement fell short once I heard how hugely powerful Alicorn's were.

I couldn't help but laugh a bit at the overwhelming information. "Heh a little overpowered much? So I actually contain that much power?"

Celestia's face turned a little more serious at that. "That is a tricky question, we measured your capacity several times, at your lowest you measured just underneath Twilight, at your peak you were more than double Luna who is a little bit under myself. Standing as you are now you're probably on a level in between Twilight and a regular Alicorn, but depending on your emotion can exceed that limit by a huge margin. The second thing that throws it off is how your body handles the magic. Unlike a unicorn or Alicorn that focuses their magic and has it flow through their horn even when not actively using it you do not. It distributes throughout your body evenly, your horn is there more for regulating and will probably only focus magic if you focus it their yourself."

"Uhh I don't fully understand when I watch others they have to focus on their horns to use magic, how is that different from myself focusing it there."

Judging from Celestia's awkward reaction and how she seemed to get slightly uncomfortable about the question it seemed that I found the elephant in the room with that one.

"Well when a unicorn or even a normal Alicorn use magic we focus on the magic and it naturally gathers in our horn. You would need to actually choose it to focus there, so theoretically you can use magic with other parts of your body but I would recommend sticking with your horn for now until you find out more. I'm sorry but it is a unique case and I don't know very much about how it works but I'm guessing that what happened yesterday with Luna is just a preview of what can be done with your magic. I'm sorry I sound worried it's just that it is a very powerful and unproven type of magic, I trust you not to abuse it but I must warn you that if it is true and you can indeed focus magic through your bodily that easily without really thinking about it and your emotions can boost your magic that can be a very dangerous combination."

I understood what the princess was implying, basically what would happen if I got pissed at somebody and my magic kicked in, what happens then. "Princess, I understand perfectly. I don't know the future and can't make any promises about how things will go but what I can promise is that I will never abuse this power and will only protect those dear to me if things ever go too far. I don't care how much training or meditation or whatever needs to be done but I will make sure that I can keep things under control."

This seemed to ease the princess up just a bit. "I know you will. That's why I'm trusting you with this in the first place. I'm sorry to say though but anything else about you is a mystery to us. And I can only give the advice to be careful and let your friends help you on your path. For now I believe it is almost time to send you home but there are two things that must be dealt with first."

The princess used magic to float an envelope off a nearby table. Now that your species is confirmed, I took the liberty of registering you as a legal equestrian citizen. And seeing as you are now a citizen I felt you deserved your own residence and commissioned a house for you just outside of ponyville, consider it a gift as thanks for everything you've done concerning Luna. I have only had brief dealings with her due to recent events. But I can already tell that she is happier in general thanks to the events concerning yourself and that is worth more to me than any monetary value."

I graciously accepted the envelope opening it and peaking inside, it contained the deed to the house and land. "I don't feel I deserve this but considering I don't have many other options I thank you from the bottom of my heart."

It was just another reminder of how different place this was than life with humanity, there I would probably be locked in prison as a danger to society for containing dangerous power, and here I was given a house as a thank you. Needless to say witch society I preferred.

The princess simply nodded with a gentle smile at my thanks before turning to head towards the door. "The second matter will need to be dealt with outside so if you could follow Me." and she left the room.

I quickly followed to keep up following her through the halls of the hospital, it felt bazaar being in public without pants on to say the least, every time I encountered another pony I felt like covering myself but my coat and slight equine anatomy did a pretty good job keeping everything that I didn't want swinging out of sight. It was strange looking in a mirror seeing just a furry crotch with no gender identification swinging. But it was something I would have to get used to so I did my best to ignore it as we traveled the hallways.

"The second matter is about your transportation home to ponyville, you will be escorted by the royal guard. As well as someone who seemed very insistent on traveling with you despite her current situation and recent discharge from the hospital." It only took me a split second to catch on as a small smile grew on my face.

"I hope you don't mind, I know you will be adjusting to a new living environment but I feel that she should stay near you incase her situation returns to a less fortunate one." I could hear the tone of her voice signaling exactly what she meant.

"Sooo basically she is going on vacation."

The princess shot a playful smirk back at me. "I prefer the term medical leave, she still needs to rest and will be unable to attend to her duties for a little while, I think the fresh country air away from the city may do her some good."

"So how did she convince you to let her leave?"

The playful smile disappeared from her face and was replaced with what could only be described as mischievous, "She didn't. And if I'm not mistaken is unaware of this arrangement. Speaking of, we've arrived."

True enough in front of us approached the front door of the hospital. "So how are you going to tell her?"

However I did not get an answer as I walked forward. Stopping to look back the princess was gone.

"Oh that evil conniving!" but I was cut off as a stream of magical dust appeared in front of me transforming into a scroll. Grabbing it I opened it looking inside.

_Dear Derick, _

_ It's not polite to make fun of a princesses stiff wings._

_ Celestia_

I couldn't help but bust up laughing, I just got trolled by a princess because I made fun of her wingboner. Oh she was going to pay for this. Sticking me with another princess I only met once despite everything that has actually happened between us, talk about an awkward conversation, 'oh hey princess come stay at my house for a week to recover.' SEEMS REAL LEGIT I'll probably get laughed at by her.

But I guess that's what's going to happen though, in honesty though I was kind of excited to spend more time with the Night Princess, maybe things would turn out ok and she actually enjoys her time in ponyville. Guess I won't know till then. So taking a deep breath I put my hand on the door and pushed ready to enter the world as a completely new being and into a new life.

**Hey all, sorry I know this took a little bit longer than I said. But in my defense I just got a new job working in a warehouse fulltime. And to top that off we have been moving for the last week and a half so it's felt like I've been running two fulltime jobs every day. But now things are settling down and I'll try and work on writing more.**

**If you enjoyed this chapter please leave a review telling me your thoughts, good, bad, horrible, or awesome I accept them all it will only help me grow as a writer. So until next time DeadMau37 out.**


	10. home sweet home

**I'm happy to have this chapter out finally. Took some pushing but I finally forced myself to finish it. I'm really enjoying the challenge of writing for Luna. Not only is she royalty expected to act like it, but inside she is really just another pony that never got to enjoy herself, it's tough finding a balance but I think it came out well.**

'Breathe, it's not like this is your first time you're inviting slash passing on royal orders to come stay with you.

Well she did have fun at the gala and kind of almost sacrificed herself for us so how bad could it go?

True she did have fun and did help us at known cost but that was in the heat of the moment, this is different she probably will expect some attempt at courting her and put me in prison!

Quite being such a baby and get out there, if we're going to rot in a cell I doubt Celestia would've set this up at all so just man up and go.

Fine I will

Good then go

I am

Almighty then

I need to stop talking to myself'

Taking a deep breathe I put my hand on the hospital door and pushed out.

I looked around trying to find a sign of the princess I was looking for.

*Ahem*

Spinning round I saw an armored stallion. He reminded me of the royal guards that followed Celestia but instead of the white and gold coloring of the royal guard this stallion was grey with purple armor. And to top it off he was sporting a set of bat like wings off the armor.

"Uhh just a guess but are you a night version of the royal guard?"

He gave a quick nod before replying. "Correct, we are the Night wings, private guard and escort to Princess Luna. Judging from your description you are Derick correct?"

I just gave a small nod letting him continue.

"Excellent, the princess is expecting your arrival if you would follow me I will escort you there immediately."

Once again I just gave a nod and the stallion turned heading down a path.

I followed him for only a few minutes till we arrived at a small clearing outside the castle grounds. There was a shaded overhand nearby that had a grand chariot underneath, and similar to how the Night wing guards appeared it was done in a dark grey and purple tone. And resting on a cushion aboard the chariot was a midnight blue Alicorn.

Approaching the carriage I noticed I was holding my breath. I let myself relax and exhaled, this wasn't anything that I couldn't handle so no use getting worried.

Approaching the chariot I reached out and gave the wood a knock causing the princess to spin around.

Deciding to play it innocent I gave a friendly wave and with a smile just called out "Hey."

The princess settled down immediately from the startle I gave and stood in the carriage moving to one side. "Greetings Derick, wave been expecting you are you ready to depart?"

She seemed to be forcing herself to act much more formal than she wanted. "I am, is everything good to go?"

Luna just settled back down onto the large cushion on the side of the chariot "Yes we can depart immediately." And with a wave of her wing she made it clear that my spot was another large cushion besides hers. Climbing up I sat down and made myself comfortable as I could feel the chariot start to move. Within minutes it had ascended above the clouds and was soaring easily.

I risked a peak over at the princess since she was awkwardly quiet. At first it looked like she was focused elsewhere but after a moment of observing I could swear it seemed like she was fighting herself to speak and hiding it well. I even caught her staring at my chest where the marking of the moon was before she hid her emotions and refocused. I decided to break the ice for her though.

"Princess?"

My voice seemed to snap her out of her focused trance before she focused on me.

"You may call me Luna if you wish, that is how friends would address each other is it not?"

"It is Prince... err Luna, I just wanted to say thanks. And not just for saving my life, for everything."

She seemed puzzled and voiced it aloud. "I don't believe I have done anything else worth thanking, your words confuse us."

"Simply being you is enough, I want to thank you because I don't think enough ponies do. How many Princesses would knowingly risk their life for someone as simple as a subordinate underneath them? Or spend such a large portion of their time to create a beautiful night for them to rest comfortably in. I noticed the night when you were in the hospital, I know Celestia must have raised the moon but I could clearly see that it wasn't your night. The stars where there but they didn't shine, the moon was up but it barely glowed. You give so much of yourself to everyone I just felt like you needed to be thanked."

I let my words die and waited a few seconds before looking over to Luna. It looked like she was struggling with her emotions, a single tear was travelling down her eye leaving a moist path through her fur.

Deciding the best thing for the moment would be to stay silent and give her space, I regretted what I had said because it looked like sadness was the only result from it.

A minute later I felt my cushion shift balance. Looking over Luna had stepped over to my cushion and sat herself down next to me.

"Derick, I'm sorry, I know it is most improper of us to react the way I did but we have never had someone speak to us like that. Thank you." I could feel her soft fur against mine as we sat in silence watching the clouds pass for a few moments.

"Luna, why did you do it?"

"Beg pardon?"

"The gala, you knew that using magic on me could have and very nearly did kill you. So why?"

She sat silent for a minute before answering. "You had given us a great gift that night and had shown an immense kindness. Ever since I came back from being nightmare moon every pony except Celestia has kept distance away from me. I can't blame their reactions but it's just so."

She trailed off at the end barely whispering but I heard the word loud and clear _lonely_.

I could hear a self-pitying laugh quietly escape the princess as she continued. "You would think as royalty we would be surrounded by ponies constantly. But most stay away, even for my sister. Just being a princess makes most feel intimidated and uncomfortable. Let alone when we have done the things we have."

She was breaking down, I could hear it in her voice. Slowly getting unsure of herself, I had seen and talked with people that had before so I knew that she wasn't even speaking to me directly anymore. More voicing her insecurities, that and she had veered away from the question. I knew I was seeing a Luna that nobody but Celestia had probably seen before, I was with Luna the pony not Luna the Alicorn Princess.

I wanted her to get whatever was on her chest off, it always feels better afterword's and I was afraid breaking in would lock the floodgates back up. And lord knows how often they open up with someone so reserved like a princess.

I could feel a small shiver through her fur from her holding back the urge to cry.

Before I knew it I felt my fingers tracing themselves through her fur in a soothing pattern and could feel her calming down.

As soon as I she had settled down I heard another soft laugh coming from her. "You know now that we think about your question do you want to know what we thaught of as we ignored logic and did what we did?"

Speaking softly I spoke out. "I would love to."

"I thaught about the last thing we talked about the promise we made in the kitchens."

Thinking back on it I remembered what she was referring. I knew what she meant by it too but I couldn't help but let fly a small joke. "Ahh I see how it is, you just wanted to save me so I would make you more smores."

She seemed taken aback at first. "No of course not that's not what we meant."

Chuckling I held up my hands playfully letting her know I was kidding "I know, but if you don't want me to make you anymore that is I guess that works too."

Luna's face went pale for a second. "You wouldn't."

Smirking evilly I answered. "I might… unless you ask nicely and say please." I finished with a wink.

This seemed to satisfy her and we both remained quiet for a few minutes. But I knew sooner or later I had to tell the princess she was already on her way to a vacation she had no idea about. Guess I should probably go ahead and get that out of the way.

"So Luna, when do you think you will be able to take that vacation to ponyville? I still want to bring you camping and show other ponies the wonders of the night."

Her face saddened a bit before she answered. "Our royal duties keep us very busy most of the time, and we do not wish to bother Tia with having to take over our responsibilities. But when the time presents itself that I can take leave I assure you I will."

"So you're saying that if Celestia just up and decided to take over for you and send you away to ponyville you would go along with it."

"We suppose that if she had no problem with that. But it is highly unlikely, although if we ask her in advance I'm sure she would eventually find the time."

"But let's say she found the time, and decided to send you to ponyville. Perhaps without you even knowing that you would be staying."

A small dawning washed over her but she hid it excellently. "Then we would be most pleasantly surprised we would think."

"But then again Celestia couldn't just send you off for no reason, unless you were just released from a hospital and still on medical leave to stay with the source of magic that kept you alive when you saved his life."

From her look I knew she had caught on but she was taking it extremely well, I could feel myself relaxing now that I knew she wouldn't explode.

"I guess we could live with that, we always wanted a golden bipedal servant after all."

I just snorted indignantly at her joke.

"So did Tia really send us with to stay with you?"

"Yeah, I think she was planning to tell you but decided to skip it and make me do it instead as payback."

Luna just seemed to giggle at that. "That does indeed sound like Tia despite her royal façade she always was a little bit impish. What did you do to her to cause it?"

So for the next half hour we laughed and told embarrassing stories about jokes we had played. After telling Luna about Celestia's stiff wings she shared a hilarious story about Tia and a blueberry bush when they were foals.

"Come on spike were going to be late!"

"I'm coming sheesh, what's the big rush anyways?"

"Derick is coming home, we should be there to greet him."

"But uh Twi, doesn't he live here?"

The purple unicorn scooped the small dragon up on her neck before trotting out the front door. "Not anymore."

Spike could hear sadness in her words. "Uhh why not? Did he find his own place?"

"Princess Celestia had a home rush built for him while he was in the hospital. So yes he has his own house now."

The small dragon decided to stay quiet after that, he could read Twilight like one of her many books that it was a touchy subject for her.

Walking the path out of ponyville towards Sweet Apple Acres they soon stumbled across a gate into a secluded part of the forest that looked brand new.

"Wow looks like the princess didn't cut corners with the budget now did she."

Twilight hadn't been to the house yet and only knew the general location but looking at the gate she was sure his assumption was right. Standing before them was a ten foot steel gate capped by a mural of the sun and moon made from what looked like gold and silver.

Spike seemed to get exited seeing the huge gate before asking "Well should we go in?"

Nodding twilight pushed the gate open letting it swing shut behind them. "I don't think Derick will mind us entering to wait for him."

Past the gate there was a trail leading about a hundred yards back into the forest. Rounding the corner at the end they came into view with a large house, estate was probably a better name for it though. It was large but not in a way that made it feel uninviting. Instead it gave off a warm aura almost, like being at your own home. It was three stories and each story looked to be larger than Twilights entire tree. The design was simple yet well-made and just seemed inviting. On the front was a large three season's porch with a white unicorn already sitting on it waiting?

Walking up to the porch Twilight called out, "Why hello Rarity, I didn't expect to find anyone else here I just received word that Derick was coming home today last night."

"Yes darling but I stayed at the hospital longer remember? Celestia herself sent me home and told me when I could expect our gallant knight to return."

Twilight couldn't help but hear the well hidden but obviously there flutter in Rarity's voice when she called Derick her Gallant knight. And when Applejack and her had left the hospital Rarity had decided to stay, her boutique was the most important thing in her life other than sweetie bell and she just told twilight to put up a closed until further notice sign. She had definitely not been herself not only putting the boutique aside but she didn't even seem to care about her looks at the hospital either, this was the real strange part to Twilight. Rarity wouldn't be caught dead with her hair out of place, but she didn't even bat an eye at the wreck she was at the hospital.

She had cleaned up since then obviously but you could still tell something wasn't right. Her regular light baby blue eye shadow was missing as well as her mascara. And her mane while styled was not up to its regular neat and perfect curl, instead looking like it was just brushed out of the shower.

"How are you doing Rare? I know we have all had a rough few days."

"Marvelously Darling." The tone was right, the attitude spot on. But the bloodshot eyes told Twilight different.

"So how was Derick after AJ and I left?"

"Good we just talked a bit and I kept him company." Once again the tone and attitude fit but her words just seemed to lack something. Like she wasn't really there speaking them, like she was just on autopilot and responding to be polite. Twilight took at as a cue to just leave her be for now, there would be a time and place to talk to her friend but right now wasn't it.

Trotting over to a bench a little ways down the porch from Rarity Twilight and spike sat to wait for Derick to return.

Spike seemed agitated and a little more than freaked out, "Twilight, what's wrong with Rarity?"

Of course spike wouldn't miss that something was wrong, he was all but obsessed over Rarity. And despite being so young was very smart.

"Nothing spike, she has just had a very traumatic week. I'm sure you will hear the whole story soon just leave her be for now though she needs her space right now."

Spike caught the seriousness in Twilights words and decided it was best to just go with it and not ask questions right now.

Twilight couldn't help but peak over at rarity from time to time, her eyes almost never left rather the sky or the path to the gate. It worried Twilight but then again Rarity wasn't in a right state of mind that much was obvious. From how many times Twilight had heard her fantasize about finding a prince charming she could guess what was conflicting her.

Derick defending her against blueblood probably made her borderline fall in love with him as a chivalrous man. But watching him technically die because of it more than likely mentally destroyed her with thoughts of guilt. Twilight knew that despite her declining it Rarity held herself responsible for the entire thing, and blamed herself for Derick getting hurt. She wanted so badly to help her dear friend but she knew that it was something that she would either have to her own terms with.

Around a half an hour later though a metallic click echoed through the air. In less time that Twilight could think where the sound originated from Rarity was on her hooves and staring down the path to the gate. And it made sense immediately, someone had just entered the gate. A few seconds passed and hoofs on dirt could be heard and not more than a moment later a carriage rolled around the corner. And there on the back sat Luna and Derick. They hadn't seemed to notice us on the porch yet though as Derick casually hoped out of the carriage and offered a hand to the Princess.

Not a moment after her hoofs touched the ground though was his hand jerked away. Knocking him back a few feet he managed to remain on his hoofs err feet he honestly didn't know what to call them at this point. But registering the squeezing sensation from his waste looking down he saw a white coat and purple mane and put two and two together.

Bending down on a knee I wrapped my arms around Rarity hugging her back. After a moment I eased up and felt her hesitantly do the same.

It was only then that she seemed to notice Luna. She squeaked a bit in embarrassment before stammering out an apology.

Luna just smiled and replied. "Tis quite alright, I understand missing your friends and being worried for their wellbeing."

It was then that Twilight trotted over. "Princess Luna so good to see you? I thaught you were still in the hospital."

"Neigh, thanks to some unconventional magic we have never felt better. Now Derick shall we take a tour of your new property? I would like to find a chamber that I can have Celestia send my things to seeing as I was not made aware to pack."

This comment seemed to catch Twilights attention and Derick noticed. "Oh Twilight, Rarity, Luna is currently on a medical vacation and will be staying with me here in ponyville for a while."

Rarity seemed to snap back into a moment of normalcy hearing that. "Oh that is wonderful news, you simply must join me at the spa one day."

The invite itself didn't seem to bother Luna but from her response it sounded like she was slightly uncomfortable being asked to go somewhere with a pony she doesn't actually know that well. "Uh yes, that sounds most uh, delightful."

It was then that a low whistle could be heard coming from Derick, it seemed he finally got around to looking at the small mansion tucked into the forest.

"Celestia told me she had something thrown together for me but this is a little much. This place is way too huge for just myself."

Twilight noticed Luna bouncing a bit in what looked like anticipation? It was almost like she was giddy looking at the house. "Tia told us that she was impressed with your actions, she did tell us with what exactly. But that she wanted to thank you personally, she commissioned Canterlot's top building crew and architects to rush build it for you."

He just kept staring at the building in silence for a few minutes, "Well I don't feel like I did anything to deserve any of this. But since we are on my property I may as well be a decent host and invite you all inside. Plus I'm just downright curious to explore it now."

Over the next twenty minutes the group traveled from room to room exploring. It was a mix of modern and Victorian perfectly blended. Most of the time was spent just traveling from room to room and testing the furniture and taking in the decorations. The house was fully furnished and decorated with everything from odd trinkets to art and sculptures. Celestia had not spared coin when she had this place done. It amazed me that it had been put together so quickly but I guess when the Princess says get it done it gets done.

"Seriously what use do I have for TEN FRIGGEN BEDROOMS?"

Twilight just snorted a bit, "Well maybe you'll just have to have frequent company over? Like you said this place is very large for just yourself and could probably house a dozen ponies comfortably."

He just chuckled back at the comment. "Maybe I will, Atleast I know for a fact that pinkie will probably bug me to death to throw parties here every now and then."

We spent the next hour as a group in the main living room just talking and relaxing. Luna seemed to be more reserved and uncomfortable than normal with Twilight and Rarity here and just stayed quiet for the most part. Spike had long since disappeared into one of the bedrooms for a nap since it was late. Rarity had somehow found her way onto the same couch as I and had dozed off curled up next to me. Twilight was yawning on her couch across the room as well.

Standing up I stretched for a second and gently woke Rarity up. "Well I think it's time to hit the hay, we've all had an interesting week. And it's just going to get crazier, especially since I get to deal with this." I said waving an arm around my body pointing out my appearance. It was nice being around these three because they didn't really care or Atleast didn't make a point of gawking. But the public was another story, and I'm pretty sure that other than AJ the rest of my friends had no idea what to expect either.

"Your both welcome to stay if you would like, there is an abundance of space here you know. And spike is already asleep up in one of the rooms."

Rarity answered first. "I suppose it couldn't hurt, Sweetie Bell is still at our parents so I don't have a reason not to."

Twilight just seemed to nod a silent acceptance and thanks as she followed us upstairs.

The second floor was made up mostly of guest rooms and a central sitting area. Rarity and Twilight both made their way to a room and wished Luna and I goodnight before heading into their respective rooms.

Luna and I travelled up to the third floor, it was made up of a master bedroom and a larger than normal guest room which Luna had occupied. The rest of the floor was basically a large cozy study, filled with bookshelves and leather couches around a fireplace. The only thing that was missing from the entire house was a gym facility. But then again without hands or legs like a human nobody would know what gym equipment would be so I wasn't expecting any to begin with. I added it to my list of stuff to do, build a gym. I may not be competing or doing it for any specific reason anymore. But I was always at home and peace when I pushed my body.

I cleaned up in the private bathroom inside the master room and climbed in to the gigantic bed.

It had been such a crazy point of my life lately I couldn't help that my mind was just racing thinking of everything that had happened. It only seemed like a few days to me but then again I was unconscious for most of the time.

I finally let my mind relax enough to start shutting down, but before I was able to drift off to sleep I heard the sounds of hoofs in the hall before a knock on my door echoed in the room.

I couldn't help but wonder which one of the three is was, either way though I knew that my night just got longer and I was exhausted. Letting out a sigh I climbed out of bed grabbed the door handle and pulled it open.

**Sorry it's taken me so long to post. Id bitch about life being busy etc… but I trust you all know how that goes. Anyways I'm happy to finally have a new chapter out. I know it's kind of short but I felt obligated to Atleast get something out there. **

**I want to give a special thanks to Zelfra1234 for pestering me with pm's. In a good way, thank you. It helped motivate me to stay up late and get some writing done.**

**So anyone else who enjoys the story send me a review let me know what you think. I love all forms of feedback and it really helps motivate me to get more written.**

**Anyways until next time DeadMau37 out.**


	11. breakfast with luna

Opening the door I was greeted with the sight of a mane billowing without wind that seemed to contain the shine of the stars in it. "Hello Luna I should've guessed that you would be up considering your standard schedule."

"Yes we will try to get some sleep later into the night but tis too soon for us yet. We were hoping that you could spare some time."

"I guess I could spare the time, I've spent many more nights up late then in bed early." I beckoned her down into the sitting area and lit up the fireplace and relaxed in the comfy armchair. There was a chair for myself and several large cushions around the room one of which Luna had settled onto. "Celestia sure knew how to give this place a nice touch." I muttered, you can't help but feel relaxed and at peace sitting near a blazing hearth. "So Luna now that you're officially on vacation what's on your mind?"

"We were just hoping to spend some time talking to help the time pass."

I had noticed throughout the day that most of the talking that took place after arriving had been between Rarity and Twilight and myself. Luna had stayed quiet only offering a few words when the conversation directly shifted to her. I bet she was feeling slightly uncomfortable in such a different environment to what she is used to, I bet life at the castle is so proper and constricted it would drive me mad.

"Well I think I can help with that. It sure must be different here than the castle I bet."

"It is, we are not used to being able to look around outside of our private chamber and not see a guard."

"Yeah I could see that, being who you are I bet there is always somebody watching out for you a stone's throw away. Well here you have some freedom to do anything you want on vacation and I can fill in as a guard if the need comes."

"We shall take you up on that if we need to. You speak of us having freedom but normally we only do our royal duty or are typically researching something. I fear we may not know many things to do with our new free time."

"Well I'm sure tomorrow we could go and explore ponyville. Have you ever really been outside of canterlot before?"

Luna just seemed to stay silent, it was a much more awkward pause then I expected for such an innocent seeming question.

"Yes, but tis a complicated story. One I do not like to be reminded of but seeing as you are not aware judging from our previous conversation I feel you should know."

Judging from the severity of the topic to her this must be what happened that has made most of Equestria skittish of Luna.

"Over a thousand years ago the royal palace was deep is now known as the everfree forest. Celestia and I ruled over the day and night together. I was very young at the time barely older than a filly at them time considering our lifespans. But I dutifully decided to spend my time during the nights watching over my subjects at night very much like Celestia does during the day. But over time I repeatedly witnessed our subjects praising Celestia and the sun relishing in the day. While all they did was sleep through the nights and ignore my wonderful sky. I guess that's the answer to your question, yes I've travelled all over Equestria watching over the night but there's a reason I brought this story up and I feel you should know. It's been bothering me that the one person I consider a friend doesn't even know what I did."

I could hear the fear in her voice, she was scared to tell me the more of the story despite saying she wanted to. It must truly be a traumatic effect to make her react this way. More than likely worried it will change the way I view her for whatever occurred. I can empathize with that, she just said I was her only friend.

I got up out of the chair and crossed the short distance between us. Sitting down on the edge of her large cushion I leaned up against her side and ran my fingers between her hairs. "I can tell this is a troubling topic for you. But I promise, on the mark on my chest. That I trust you that if you say that whatever happened I will not hold it against you, you will not lose my trust, and we will still be friends."

Her answer was what you would expect of a six year old girl asking you to promise. "Promise?" it was the ask of promise that you know you could not break or your own heart would break.

"Yes I promise."

"Well after so long of watching every pony sleep through my night and praise Celestia's sun I got jealous. The jealously grew inside of me for a while before it happened. I still don't know entirely how it happened and I don't think Celestia does either. But the jealousy turned to anger soon and somehow became real. My body was taken over by dark magic and I became a monster known as Nightmare moon. Nightmare was the embodiment of all my pent up feelings of jealousy and anger but without my true personality attached to it. Acting on emotion Nightmare Moon threatened Equestria and tried to blanket it in eternal night. A fight between Celestia and Myself as Nightmare Moon broke out, Celestia almost perished according to records. I do not remember any details from the event, nor most of my memories prior to it as well. I get flash's and bits but most of what I know from before is secondhand knowledge from Celestia she re taught me. I literally had to re memorize my own past.

But that's beside the point, during the battle Celestia managed to banish Nightmare Moon to the moon. There we remained for a thousand years, somewhere along I regained personal thaught but my body and the mind that controlled it was very much Nightmare Moon. I simply caught visions of what she gazed upon and heard thoughts that chilled me. My first true memory is from a few years ago when the elements of harmony broke the curse and turned me back into myself. Ever since then both the pony population and myself have feared my being in knowledge that I am Nightmare Moon."

I didn't wait for her to continue, no more needed to be said in my opinion, so interrupting her I spoke up. "Luna, yes in a way you are Nightmare Moon and she is you. But I know that's not who you really are, it's a small piece of you that you had no control over. From the sounds of it you've dealt with being lonely your entire life including before the incident. All Nightmare Moon was is a cry out, weather you knew it or not you just wanted to be acknowledged. You put so much effort into your night, making it as beautiful, safe, and comfortable as possible but it was ignored.

I'm not saying what happened was right, but that I understand it. I'm sorry for the play on words but it's a very human reaction as we would call it. And all that means is that its proof that you are subject to the same emotions that everyone else is regardless of being a princess or not. And what I said earlier stands, you haven't lost anything of a friend in me. And I reckon that if you wish to give it a shot we can grow that list of friends during your stay here in ponyville. I know that Twilight, Rarity, and their friends would be more than happy and willing."

"I have met and associated with the elements of harmony before, they are all good ponies and I think we will get along fine. But I think as long as I have you there it will work out best."

Wait that sounded a bit wrong. Did she just imply that... Nah. But let's not give her anymore reason to believe what I think she does, unless she actually does. It wouldn't be so bad would it? How do I feel about that though? She is definitely a great pony with a good heart despite public view, and I know that I can help her. But is there another connection there above the friend's level? It was that moment that I reminded myself of the gigantic fucking moon on my chest. Oh yeah.

I stretched out and gave a large yawn, I actually really was tired by now. I didn't want to be rude though considering Luna just told me such a personal story that if I dodged out on her now she may take it the wrong way. So instead of retreating I just flopped down onto the cushion beside hers. "Man the night caught up with me. But seriously though Luna don't hold the Nightmare Moon thing so closely over your own head. It's in the past and is irrelevant now, all that matters is the you of here and now. Give them enough time and a reason to forget and it will all be in the past in the eyes of every pony."

You know, if my previous thaught was right, I realize that I just keep digging my own hole. If I actually didn't want Luna to grow any feelings I wouldn't say these things. But I know that to her they mean more than the world, I feel like she is at the emotional level of a teenage girl but on a maturity scale of the princess she really is. She is smart when it comes to the science of it but so emotionally stunted from lack of a social life she clings to any positive reinforcement. I cannot say that I do not enjoy her company though, if she wants to pursue things any farther maybe I will let it have a shot who knows. I mean I'm practically half human half Alicorn and as far as I know from twilight there are only three true female Alicorn's in Equestria and the one that isn't Celestia or Luna is currently engaged to a captain of the royal guard. Leaving Celestia or Luna in the Alicorn category, but then again I could just opt for a regular pony girlfriend. I know that Atleast one fashion designing one has recently developed a chain connecting us for either a traumatized attachment or crush like meaning, I haven't been able to figure which out. But what about my life? I know Celestia and Luna age like rocks but where do I fall in? Would I have to pursue Luna if I didn't want to outlive my next 100 wives if I didn't die unnaturally?

Ok stop it, overthinking everything. Just going to go with the flow and jump in headfirst, keeps life fun.

Before I could continue thinking at all though I felt my cushion shift weight.

"May I?"

I looked up, Luna had one hoof on the cushion.

"MI casa es su casa"

She just looked puzzled.

"It means my house is your house."

She seemed to take the hint at my indirect answer and as I lowered my head back down I could feel the cushion shifting as she settled down next to me. I could feel her side brush lightly against me. Just close enough to maintain contact but far enough to where we weren't in each other's space really.

"You know, only Celestia has ever been there for me like you have. We barely know each other yet I feel like we are so close already."

Yup, fuck. When I said teenage girl mentality I hit the nail on the head. Commence the crush phase.

"Because nobody else tried to understand you, give it some time you will gain friends."

I could feel another shift into the cushion and I felt her press slightly more into me.

"Yes but I feel like I have a most important one already."

I chose not to answer, I was literally nodding off to sleep by now. I just lay there feeling Luna's breathing next to me. As I slowly faded away.

The sound of hoof steps charging down the hall woke Twilight up in the morning.

"What in the world is going on out there?" crawling out of bed groggily Twilight left her room to inspect the noise. Rarity's room down the hall was open with no sign of its night's resident.

"Huh she must have just been in a hurry to get home, I wonder if Derick is awake yet."

Trotting down the hall she made her way to the stairs to the third floor. Climbing she reached the master bedroom but the door was already open, peaking inside it didn't look like it had been used over the night. And she knew from experience that Derick wasn't one to wake and make his bed. She turned to head back downstairs but the light sound of breathing caught her attention. Moving further down the hall into the study area she soon found the source of the breathing.

Halting immediately her attention locked on the sight in front of her. On a cushion she spotted Luna but what caught her eye was the leg of golden fur sticking out from underneath where her wing was draped over her front. And it suddenly made sense why Rarity had stormed away, she was obviously not the first one to catch sight of the scene before here. A certain white unicorn mare had almost certainly found the scene already today and left in a rush.

Twilight herself wasn't taking it in much better, she could feel a pain in her chest as she watched the two sleeping together. She knew Rarity had developed feelings to some extent for Derick but she couldn't help but wonder at what her own indecisive mind told her about her own feelings. The pain in her chest seemed to be a proper answer at the moment though.

Twilight decided to back out quietly, no need to cause a scene waking them. Walking down the hall she was battling thoughts in her mind at what to make of what she witnessed. But her mind came to the conclusion that she didn't want to be here right now. Waking spike long enough to have him climb onto her back before continuing his sleep she left the house.

I woke up that morning with a complete feeling of peace. That was quickly shattered when I realized that I was currently spooning Luna with her wing draped over me. I very carefully slid down and out from underneath her wing letting her continue her rest.

Getting up and stretching I went down to my bedroom and flipped the shower on. So far I was convinced that the greatest perk of having my own huge ass house in the woods was that I got a full size shower. I really missed being able to both stand and shower at the same time while I was crashing in Twilights tree. Cleaned up I headed back into my room to try and hunt some clothes down. Digging around through the mostly empty drawers I eventually found one that had a few sets of my clothing that someone brought over from Twilights. Throwing on a simple pair of shorts and t-shirt I made my way out to check on Luna.

I found her exactly where I left her and decided to go get some breakfast ready. Well Atleast hopefully get some breakfast ready, I had been through the kitchen already but had not checked the fridge or pantry for any actual food. For all I knew I could be sitting on a whole lot of nothing food wise.

Popping the fridge opened my jaw lowered just a slight bit. I reached in and grabbed a small note taped inside.

_Derick, I know from a dental x-ray we took that you are an omnivore. Although we do not have meat available I hope that you can find something since I'm unsure what you like. P. Celestia_

I don't feel like describing what was in the fridge but I'll put it this way. I'm pretty sure the pickiest eater on the planet could find Atleast three separate things they would enjoy in there. A quick spin through the pantry found it equally as stuffed with so many strange and different food items I was actually slightly overwhelmed.

Cracking my knuckles I decided to bust my kitchen in. I figured that anybody on the first day of their first vacation ever would enjoy pancakes since I actually knew my mother's Dutch baby pancake recipe.

Ok let me talk about pancakes for a second, there's pancakes and then there's fucking awesome pancakes. And mom knew the secret, Dutch baby's. Gigantic oven cooked pancakes of mass quantities of butter. Oh yeah Luna was in for a treat if I had anything to do with it.

Half an hour later I made my way back up to where id left the sleeping princess.

"Well you've been busy I see" I chuckled to myself, she hadn't moved an inch.

Crouching down next to her I gently placed a hand on her shoulder and rocked her slightly.

With sleep still in her voice she only responded with a barely intelligible grumble before trying to go back to sleep.

Rocking her again a tiny bit harder I spoke out, "Breakfast is ready."

Finally her eyes opened, "Now come on, I made my favorite as a kid."

She stood up with a yawn "Alright, we will clean up and then meet you in the dining room."

I just let out a small chuckle at her answer, "No need to be formal here _Princess_." I said with heavy emphasis in a teasing tone on princess. "Welcome to vacation at my house 101, be comfy don't worry about looks and being proper like you would at the castle, and the food will only be hot a few minutes out of the oven so let's go."

She gave a slightly embarrassed nod. "We are not used to life outside of the castle, we will try to adjust to be a proper guest."

Leading her out to head down to the kitchen I gave a tsk. "Now princess, like you just said you're a guest. And that means you don't have to adjust to shit, just be yourself just more at ease and relaxed. There's nobody watching you or judging your actions as a princess of Equestria here. There's only Luna and Derick about to enjoy some big ass pancakes." I said with a flourish as I pulled the warm pans out of the oven and set it down on the kitchen table.

Grabbing a bottle of syrup I poured it over the entire thing in a sloppy fashion. "Step one, eating like us regular folk." Reaching out I tore a hunk off the pancake mopped up some syrup and popped it into my mouth.

Luna just gave me an awkward look like I just ate like a barbarian with my hands, oh yeah I did. Before her horn lit up and a piece of the pancake ripped itself off and mirrored exactly what I had done with my own piece. The moment it hit her mouth though I could just see her eyes widen. And without another word another piece three times larger got ripped off by the purple glow.

Breakfast went by pretty quickly just chatting and eating, it was kind of funny though because apparently Luna was convinced I was some food wizard now since id shown her two brand new foods she apparently fell in love with already.

Patting my stomach I started to clean up the kitchen before a purple glow ripped the pan out of my hands. Reaching out quickly I yanked the pan back and in one fluid motion gave Luna a tiny bonk on the head with it. "Now now, no need to worry about that I can handle the dishes. Now that breakfast is done and were both full and happy how about we get ready for the day. I have a few things planned and want to show you around ponyville."

I could literally see her eye twitching a bit. I couldn't tell if it was the fact I just hit her albeit very gently in the head with a pan, telling her to go clean up, or just the fact that this was so different than any behavior she was ever around.

Apparently after the look eased off and she only seemed to be in a happier than before mood did I decide it had been the third.

It had seemed odd though, ever since she had arrived here she had been acting different. Before she had been always speaking her mind asking questions and being curious. But since arriving at the house she had been more withdrawn and quiet, she still seemed happy but just felt odd being so quiet. When we talked I had been doing most of it while she just listened and gave bits and pieces. But I bet she is just in a culture shock and adjusting.

Hearing hoofs broke me from my thoughts.

"We are ready to go."

Looking over at her I immediately noticed she was adorned in her full regalia.

"I don't mean to sound rude Luna but are you sure you want to be wearing all that shiny fanciness?"

"Beg pardon? Why would we not wear our Regalia?"

"Well if you want to make friends it might help if they see you as another pony. But one look at your getup will automatically make them think princess, I'm sure you can understand what I mean."

Not five minutes later I was walking down the path with a technically naked Luna.

Shutting the front gate I looked over at Luna and asked, "So what would you like to do first?"


End file.
